


under the moonlight

by Starling (StarDandere)



Series: persona 3 au [1]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Persona Fusion, Gen, Multi, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slice of Life, Trans Character, ft cameos from hope's peak arc characters, the persona 3 au no one asked for, we use ouma like real men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-02-26 00:41:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 47
Words: 108,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13224600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarDandere/pseuds/Starling
Summary: He set his papers down and looked out the window, staring up at the full green moon. If it wasn’t so abnormal and unsettling, it could almost be beautiful.Shuichi expects nothing but an ordinary school life when he moves into Iwatodai Dorm. Instead, his daily life is turned inside out from the moment he steps off the train.





	1. Haze

**April 6, 201X**

Blasting music. The continuous murmur of a multitude of conversations overlapping. The rhythmic tap of fake nails on a smartphone screen. These combined turned into an overbearing auditory attack, causing one Saihara Shuichi to fidget in his seat, nails digging into his bag. It wasn’t crowded in the slightest, but public transportation still made him uneasy from the neverending buzz of noise. His exhaustion from traveling all day certainly didn’t help. The only relief was that it was late and therefore somewhat quieter than it had been earlier in the day on previous lines.

 

The overhead announced his stop, Iwatodai, at long last. As he exited, he glanced at the clock on the far wall of the station, wincing at the time. 11:57. He wasn’t unfamiliar with late nights and few hours of sleep, but that didn’t change the reality that school was going to be rough the following day.

 

Clutching his phone tight in his hand as he made his way out of the station, he pulled up the map to his new dorm. He only caught a glimpse of it before his phone powered off suddenly, turning unresponsive as he attempted to power it back on. He groaned and shoved the useless device into his pocket. At least when technology failed, he had a decent memory to guide him. He could stay calm.

 

That was true for all of three seconds before he rose his eyes from the ground.

 

A murky green tint had settled over the empty street, highlighted by spots of red- oh god was that a coffin?! Shuichi shuddered, clutching his bag and looking around frantically. No one was around. There had been people when he had exited, was he hallucinating? He inched backwards, trying to control his increasingly panicked breathing.

 

Time passed as he sat with his back to the side of the station, trying to make sense of what was going on. When what felt like 10 minutes passed with no change, Shuichi stood again with an uneasy sigh, heading down the street in hopes of making it to his destination. He only made it a block before he was forced to stop again, though this time by curiosity than fear.

 

He heard footsteps.

 

“Hello?” He called out, his voice reverberating off the walls. The footsteps stopped. He waited to see if their owner would respond, but all he was met with was more silence. Did he imagine it? He looked around, before giving up and moving to continue on his way. That's when it happened.

 

A hand wrapped around his wrist, causing Shuichi to shout out in surprise. A giggle came from the owner of the hand, and when he looked over he was met with a grin.

“Hey! What are you doing out so late?” The boy said in a singsong voice.

“Going home?” He weakly responded, trying and failing to pull his trapped hand away. He frowned, not expecting someone so small and childlike to be stronger than him. It made him more nervous than he already was.

The boy hummed in interest, before the grin turned into a sly smirk. “Shouldn't you be running then? The monsters’ll get you if you don't hurry back to bed where you belong.”

 

As the warning hit him, he was struck by the absurdity of the situation. While he was clearly teasing about the monsters, he was completely relaxed in spite of their surroundings.

“Do, do you know what's going on?” Shuichi asked.

“Maybe.” The boy finally released his wrist to fold his hands behind his head. “But I don't really feel like explaining.”

“Why not?”

“Because it's boring. Let's play tag instead! If you catch me, I'll tell you something good.”

 

Before Shuichi could answer, the boy darted off, leaving him no choice but to follow in fear of being alone. It didn’t take too long for him to realize that the boy was toying with him; Shuichi wasn’t a fast runner in the slightest, yet he was able to keep catching glimpses of which alleys he ducked into. It had to be intentional; the boy was making sure he didn’t fall behind. But why?

 

His lungs burned as he finally was forced to stop, unable to keep going. A minute later, to prove his earlier thought, the boy’s head poked around the corner Shuichi had last seen him turn. They made eye contact and, to his surprise, the boy pouted. He hoped that meant that this game was over and that he’d come back over, but instead the boy pulled back and left, the sound of him running echoing in the distance until it faded entirely. Shuichi didn’t have the strength to yell after him.

 

His exhaustion collapsed in on him, and he plopped himself down on the steps of a nearby building. Once he regained his breath, he looked around. Everything was still sickly green, and since he had been led around at random he had no idea where he was. Shuichi sighed, resting his face in his hands as he tried to fight down his anxiety. Breathe in, breathe out.

 

When he calmed and looked up again, he realized he wasn't as lost as he initially thought. The street name looked vaguely familiar, and as he traveled up the road he found the address he memorized. The building’s label collaborated with his memory as well: Iwatodai Dorm. This was where he needed to be, much to his relief.

 

As if on cue, when his hand touched the doorknob, the green tint left. Too tired to reel from the sudden shift back, he pushed open the door, softly calling out into the dimly lit lobby, “Excuse me...”

“Oh!” Though the room appeared empty at first, a head popped up from one of the couches. From her frazzled blonde hair, Shuichi deduced that she had been dozing until his arrival. Shaking off her tiredness and hopping to her feet, the girl rounded the couch to greet him properly. “You must be Saihara-kun! Welcome!”

“Ah, thank you.” Shuichi adjusted the brim of his cap, uncertain of how to respond to her enthusiasm. So instead, he asked, “Are you the only one still up?”

 

She nodded and opened her mouth to say something, before pausing. “Oh, right! I should probably introduce myself. I'm Akamatsu Kaede, nice to meet you.”

“Saihara Shuichi, though you already knew that...” He shifted awkwardly, before looking for a clock. It was probably super late- Oh. 12:02? That clock was running super slow.

 

“Sorry, you're probably tired.” Akamatsu’s voice pulled his attention back. “I'll show you your room, alright?”

He nodded, and she led him up to the second floor. She was surprisingly perky as she explained that they had put his luggage in the room farthest down on the right. It made him feel a little bad that he only had enough energy to nod dumbly in response to her brief tour.

 

His room was barren, a bed and desk its only furnishing. His belongings were still packed away neatly in the boxes he had sent them in, but unpacking would have to wait until later. He changed into his pajamas and plugged his phone in to change. It flashed on as he did so, showing its battery percentage to be nowhere near dead. The time on it read 12:11. Shuichi sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and deciding to ignore it.

 

He'd figure it all out later, for now sleep was all he needed.

  
  


One new message received:

[3:13am] UNKNOWN: that was a lot of fun ^o^ let’s play again sometime~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! First off, happy new year! So this is the prologue of sorts for what will hopefully be my long term project for a good while (please 2k18 give me the power to stop jumping from project to project thanks). Also, while this is a Persona au, there's... no Personas... Sorry! It would take too much time to either design new ones or search through the wiki for That Perfect One and I had a better idea than that so goodbye hours wasted researching (note: there were and still will be hours wasted googling, it's my curse rip)
> 
> Anyway I hope you enjoyed, next chapter will be longer and up on Thursday!


	2. Beginnings

**April 7, 201X**

He awoke to vigorous pounding on his door. Blearily pulling himself up, he heard unfamiliar voices from the other side of his door.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting the new kid for breakfast, obviously. Didn't Akamatsu tell you he was arriving last night?”

“Yes, but banging on his door doesn't make a good first impression.”

“Whatever, doesn't matter!”

 

Shuichi let their voices fade into the background as he picked his uniform out of his belongings and put it on. As he buttoned his top with one hand, he pulled his phone off its charger and turned it on. It was only a bit after 7am, a sight that made him silently groan. He wasn’t an early riser in the slightest; late nights getting engrossed in assisting his uncle’s work and living only a short walk away from his previous school did that.

 

“... try knocking in a rhythm, that always does the trick for Harukawa-san.” A new voice joined the conversation outside, one he recognized as Akamatsu.

“I only open the door because it gets annoying, not because it’s somehow better,” the first voice, apparently “Harukawa”, countered. Despite their objection, seconds later rhythmic knocks started up. He didn’t have to endure it long, as he was finished, but thankfully it wasn’t as bad as the heavy pounding that woke him up.

 

Shuichi opened the door, greeted by the three outside his door. The one knocking on the door, a tall purple haired man, quickly lowered his hands as soon as it opened. Behind him and beside Akamatsu, a girl with long twin pigtails stood with her arms crossed.

“H-Hello,” Shuichi hesitantly greeted, trying not to let his gaze fall too low. He had a hard time looking people in the eye, but staring at their feet probably wouldn’t be a good first impression.

“Hey, good to see you’re up!” The one who’d been knocking greeted, giving him a rough pat on the shoulder with a grin. He was quite loud, but also very friendly. “I’m Momota Kaito, future Luminary of the Stars!” He continued on with a boastful tone and a thumbs up, before glancing at Harukawa.

 

She sighed in response. “Harukawa Maki. I’m more or less in charge of making sure you all don’t die or something.” Her part in the conversation over, she turned and walked away, ignoring Momota calling after her.

“Don’t mind her, she’s pretty guarded,” he reassured Shuichi with another pat, “I haven’t been here very long either, but I’m sure we’ll get through to her before you know it.”

“Good luck with that,” Akamatsu laughed. She then turned her attention to Shuichi. “Good morning, by the way. Did you sleep well?”

“Yes, thank you.” He adjusted his hat nervously. “So I heard something about breakfast..?”

 

That simple question resulted in Momota practically dragging him downstairs, excitedly shouting about how “breakfast is the most important meal for any growing astronaut!” Shuichi had no idea what he was talking about, but thankfully Akamatsu clarified with a laugh that that was Momota's dream job. Either way, if anyone in the dorm was still sleeping, he doubted they were now after all the ruckus.

 

Downstairs, they were greeted by two of the other dormers, who introduced themselves as Chabashira Tenko and Shinguuji Korekiyo. Both had very...  _ unique _ personalities, from his first impression. Interacting with so many loud people this early in the morning was slowly but surely draining Shuichi’s energy, leading to a quick retreat into the bathroom at the first opportunity. Somehow, none of them noticed that he took his coffee with him.

 

In the quiet of the bathroom, he let out a soft sigh of relief as he leaned against the wall, pulling out his phone to browse the internet randomly. That’s when he noticed something his half awake mind hadn’t earlier: a text. He frowned as he read it over a few times, sipping his coffee as he tried to decide if he should respond or just block it. The context made it clear that it was probably the boy he had met last night, but how did he get Shuichi’s number? He could ask, but he had the feeling he wouldn’t get an answer. The short interaction they had gave him the impression that the boy would just mess around more instead of taking the question seriously.

 

The end of his coffee came before any answer came to mind, prompting the decision to answer later. He had no obligation to respond to a stranger, despite how impolite it felt. Besides, he had more pressing matters to attend to, as Momota burst in to check up on him and drag him back to the realm of listening to them talk loudly about their excitement for the first day of the semester.

 

He never thought he’d be so eager to get to school.

 

He was sure he’d get used to his dormmates soon enough, but for today he was exhausted and just wanted the day over with. Akamatsu had volunteered to escort him to school, leaving before the others so they’d get there early enough for a small tour. Shuichi was grateful; she was much quieter, clearly nowhere near as extreme of a morning person as Chabashira and Momota were.

 

Hope’s Peak Academy, located on Tatsumi Port Island, was a renowned school across the nation. His uncle had been elated when his transfer had been accepted, mainly due to the fact that the headmaster was part of an equally renowned detective lineage. Shuichi wasn’t certain how that mattered, but he was happy to be attending such a nice school. The only downside was the distance made it harder to continue his detective training; however that was something easily remedied by the wonders of technology.

 

The school was far more overwhelming than it had seemed on the monorail over. Akamatsu patiently waited for him to take in the building, a sudden wave of anticipation washing over him. The school wasn’t necessarily large or flashy; there was just an aura about it that set him on edge, as if the world’s eyes were on him.

 

“Saihara-kun,” Akamatsu said after a long minute passed, “We should get moving, okay?”

“Ah, right.” His face flushed, and he continued onward into the school. After changing shoes and checking the classroom assignments, she led him to the Faculty Office to meet their homeroom teacher.

 

As it turned out, their homeroom teacher was pulled away for a last minute meeting, but one of the teachers that remained behind was more than happy to welcome him to the academy. Shuichi had a strong feeling that he was drunk, or at the very least hungover. Regardless, he politely listened to him talk up their teacher for awhile before Akamatsu smoothly cut in and ended the conversation, claiming time as their excuse for her pulling Shuichi out of the office to resume their tour before the day started.

 

They only made it to the second floor when they reunited with Momota. And by that, he meant the other saw them from the other end of the hallway and shouted, “Hey, Saihara, Akamatsu!” with a level of oblivious that made him wonder if Momota knew what an indoor voice was.

“Momota-kun, I’m surprised you’re actually early,” Akamatsu teased once he had made his way over to the two of them, “Are you going to be a good student this year and get to class on time regularly?”

“C-C’mon, don’t be like that.” He coughed and looked away, scratching his chin. “Anyway, we’re all in 2-F, so let’s make this a fresh start for the three of us!” He gave them a grin and a thumbs up, before the three of them were corralled toward the auditorium for the entrance ceremony.

 

All was normal until lunch hour. At that point, his phone began to buzz insistently in his pocket, distracting him from his food. Concerned that it was work related, he pulled it out of his pocket.

 

3 new messages received:

[12:24pm] UNKNOWN: :((((((((

[12:24pm] UNKNOWN: don't leave me on read :’(

[12:25pm] UNKNOWN: how cruel of saihara-chan to ignore me :’(((

 

If it wasn't concerning the first time, the new addition of his name certainly was. Anxiety stirring in his chest, he shakingly responded.

[12:28pm] Shuichi: How do you know my number and my name?

The response came almost too fast for comfort.

[12:28pm] UNKNOWN: a secret!

[12:28pm] UNKNOWN: if i told you my source i'd have to kill you!!

[12:29pm] UNKNOWN: but that's a lie~ ;3

 

As expected, he didn't get a straight answer. He sighed and put his phone away after putting it into do not disturb mode.

“Something wrong, Saihara-kun?” Akamatsu asked, giving him a curious look.

“Ah, it’s nothing.” To change the subject, he turned his attention to Momota. “So, Momota-kun, you said this morning you haven’t been here long either, but it sounded like you were here last school year...”

“Oh?” He grinned, seeming eager to talk about himself as he answered, “I mean, I was here in this school last year, but I just moved into the dorm a few weeks ago. My grandparents thought it’d be a good experience for me.”

 

“Speaking of your grandparents, I stopped by their shop the other day,” Akamatsu chimed in, placing her chopsticks down and reaching to pull something out of her bag. “They were able to find this rare collection of sheet music; I’m so excited to play it!” She held up a thick book with a faded picture of piano keys on it.

“Uh oh, the Piano Idiot surfaces,” Momota laughed, and she flushed.

“Ah, sorry.” She looked to Shuichi. “I really love playing the piano and sometimes I get a little too excited about it.”

He didn’t see how that was something to apologize for. “At least you’re passionate about something?”

 

“There’s passionate, and then there’s Akamatsu,” Momota joked, giving him a friendly but rough pat on the back. He barely managed to not choke on his lunch. “But it’s good that it came in before they went on vacation...”

The three of them continued to talk until lunch was over, and the texts and Shuichi’s nervousness from all the newness disappeared into the back of his mind.

* * *

His return to the dorm threw him straight into the midst of an argument. It wasn’t loud, but there was tension in the room as soon as he entered.

“Don’t think you can worm your way out of this, Momota,” Harukawa’s sharp tone cut through the air with a burning power, her glare sending shivers up Shuichi’s spine without it even being aimed at him, “These rules exist for a reason.”

“Oh c’mon,” He responded, looked exasperated but not scared, “Is it seriously a problem if I go onto the roof? I just wanted to stargaze for a while, it can’t be breaking curfew if I’m not actually off the dorm grounds.”

 

“The rules state-” She begun, but as Shuichi was attempting to slip by to return to his room she stopped. “Saihara, wait a moment.”

He froze, pulling his hat down over his eyes to avoid hers. “O-Okay...” He shuffled over.

“As I’m reminding this idiot-” She ignored his objection. “-curfew is at 10pm. It’s dangerous to go wandering around outside at night, so be back by 10:30 at the latest. The roof is off limits; it’s an emergency exit, not a playground. You understand?”

He gulped. “Y-Yes.” He was curious about the crime rate in the area, if the curfew was that important, but he didn’t dare ask. He would likely never have business on the roof either, so that wasn’t a problem.

“Good. That’s all.” She waved him off and turned back to her original target.

 

... Who had ducked off at some point, avoiding the lecture continuing. Shuichi didn’t blame him, and quickly left as Harukawa swore under her breath that she was going to kill him.

 

In the quiet of his new room, he began pulling out his belongings and putting them away. He got halfway through when he remembered his phone and switched off the setting he activated earlier. Immediately, his attention was drawn to the whopping 16 unread messages from the unknown boy. Scrolling through them, it was a lot of emoticons and attention seeking. He was glad he didn’t have to sit through his phone buzzing all afternoon.

 

[8:03pm] Shuichi: Will you tell me your name at least?

 

[11:59pm] UNKNOWN: ouma kokichi, nice to meet you saihara-chan!


	3. The Dark Hour

**April 10, 201X**

The next few days went by smoothly, or as smoothly as they could, with Shuichi steadily falling into the school routine and adjusting to the dorm life. He learnt that Shinguuji was actually a college student that previously attended Hope’s Peak and was studying anthropology. He also got thrown across the room when he accidentally bumped into Chabashira while half awake just trying to get his breakfast. That hurt a lot.

He also discovered that Harukawa was in the year above him, which was somehow news to Momota. Shuichi had to question where his mind was sometimes, but he wasn’t a bad guy.

 

The texts from Ouma Kokichi kept coming in. They were generally nonsensical and Shuichi found he had more questions than answers the longer they talked. He was able to deduce that he was a student at Hope’s Peak as well, but he hadn’t been able to spot the boy anywhere on campus.

 

All in all, his nerves from the adjustment period were calming down, so he finally found the energy to have his uncle send over a case for him to mull over, which is how he found himself awake at midnight for the first time since the night he arrived.

He hadn’t forgotten what had happened, but for it to happen a second time made it feel more real, made it feel less like he imagined the whole thing. He set his papers down and looked out the window, staring up at the full green moon. If it wasn’t so abnormal and unsettling, it could almost be beautiful.

 

He was glad his desk was by his window, at least. The lights in his room had powered off as soon as the green tint outside returned, leaving the moonlight as the only way he could read. He continued to try to focus to push the strangeness out of his mind, but that only lasted until a weird sound came from outside. He paused, try to pinpoint what it was. It was like... metal scrapping against something rough.

 

That was all he could determine, as the door to his room suddenly was pounded on.

“Saihara-kun, are you awake?” It was Akamatsu. She sounded panicked, so he quickly responded, moving over to open his door. She looked as if she had been running a lot.

“What’s wrong?”

She shook her head and grabbed his arm. “No time to explain, we’re going upstairs!” She dragged him behind her and made her way to the third floor, where she pounded on one of the doors and called out to Chabashira. When she answered, she was given the same lack of information that he was, and they again continued upward.

 

He was about to wonder where Momota was when he heard him yell. It was more of a scream though, one filled with pure terror. His detective’s instincts kicked in and he rushed past the girls and toward the scream. The roof. It had to be from the roof. He threw open the door.

 

Arms. So many of them, waving in the air, clamouring on the ground. It was just a tangled mess of arms, and another scream reached his ears. It was his own.

 

Momota spun around at their loud entrance, running to join them. His expression was panicked, and Shuichi didn't blame him.

“What is that thing?!” He shouted, but none of them answered. Shuichi certainly couldn't, and he doubted the others knew either. Monster was the only appropriate word, aside from “nightmare fuel”.

Then, he saw a face. No, not a face, a mask. Amidst the knot of limbs, one hand held a mask. It waved it around in a scanning motion; was that how it saw?

 

Frozen by fear, none of them moved, as if it wouldn’t see them if they stood still. Of course, that clearly wasn’t true, as the mask stopped as it faced them. A collection of hands shot upwards, moonlight glinting off of thin blades it held.

_ “Oh my god,”  _ Momota whispered, flinching backwards. Shuichi could hear Akamatsu attempting to calm the group, but his mind was far detached from her words.

 

Some sort of itch burned inside him. Probably anxiety-

 

He blinked, and in that second he was flung against the wall. He hit it hard and crumpled to his knees as the air was knocked out of him. His vision went blurry as he started coughing uncontrollably.

 

Gunshots. He heard gunshots. He rolled onto his side to see a blurry figure pointing what he assumed to be a gun at the monster. It howled, but as the gunfire continued it began to... liquefy? That was the only word he could describe it with. And with that final thought, he lost consciousness.

 

* * *

 

He awoke in a hospital room, late afternoon from the clock on the wall. He felt like he had been hit by a truck, and that seemed about right as the memories from... last night? came to the forefront of his mind.

“You’re finally up,” Harukawa’s cold voice greeted him, and he resisted the urge to flinch as he turned to face her. She stood in the doorway, arms crossed. “Just some bruised ribs, nothing too serious.”

 

At her words, he touched the lower half of his ribcage. The pain wasn’t centralized there, but the slight pressure still pained him.

She continued speaking, “Akamatsu should’ve patched up the worst of it, so it shouldn’t bother you for more than a week.” She gave him a level stare. “Provided you don’t do anything to aggravate it.”

Panic swelled in his chest at the implication. “U-Um-”

“Anyway,” she interrupted, “You’re clear to be discharged, unless you’d prefer to stay overnight.”

 

“Now is fine, I guess...” He took a shallow, shaky breath and pulled himself out of bed. It hurt, but he forced himself not to complain. At least he was alive.

“Good. You should probably take the medicine they left. We also grabbed some clothes for you.” She gestured to his bedside, where two pills and a glass of water laid, and a bag sat below. Likely pain medication. He quickly downed them.

 

“So, um, how long was I out? Is everyone else okay?” He asked after changing in the bathroom, which took longer than he would've liked.

“Only half a day. The others were in much better shape though; none of them required hospitalization.” She pursed her lips. “I still don’t understand why you had to be.”

“Well, bruised ribs are pretty bad-”

Harukawa’s glare pierced into him. “Chabashira’s arm was dislocated and she walked it off. I think you're just too weak.”

“S-Sorry?”

 

The conversation between them died fast as they headed back to the dorm. Once they were on the monorail, he pulled out his phone and turned it on. Immediately, he was greeted with two texts from Ouma, which was far fewer than he was expecting. It was a video from earlier in the afternoon with the caption, “in memorial of our dearly departed saihara-chan :’( rip in peace”. He pressed play and watched Ouma set up a stick of incense on a school desk and cry dramatically.

 

[5:56pm] Shuichi: Where did you get the incense?

[5:57pm] Ouma: my beloved saihara-chan lives?!

[5:57pm] Ouma: but I always have incense ready in case someone dies suddenly!

 

Shuichi stifled a laugh, and immediately winced as a shot of pain reminded him that he was too hurt to expand his chest that much.

[5:58pm] Shuichi: I doubt that

[5:58pm] Ouma: its true!!

[5:58pm] Ouma: oh but also

[5:59pm] Ouma: you missed all the excitement today :( someone dumped glitter all over sakakura-sensei and he stormed off so loudly everyone in 2-F poked their heads out to watch too

 

Shuichi didn't respond, the gears in his head beginning to turn.

 

* * *

 

**April 12, 201X - 3:04pm**

Akamatsu pulled him and Momota aside once they finished cleaning up for the day.

“Harukawa-san asked me to tell you both to come back right after school.” She glanced away nervously. “To talk about Monday night.”

“Seriously man?” Momota groaned, “I've already got plans for this afternoon, tell her to reschedule.” Shuichi also had plans, but he didn't bother chiming in as she quickly refuted him.

“She won't. She already had to wait because of Saihara-kun.”

 

“But it's my birth-”

Before he could finish, the classroom door flung open. “Kaede-san!” Chabashira greeted, walking over to the three of them. “Good, you have the degenerates, let's go!”

“But-”

Chabashira scowled at Momota. “Do you want to get thrown? Tenko will gladly do so if you upset Harukawa-san!”

 

Objections were useless, and soon enough they ended up in a meeting room on the fourth floor of the dorm. The air was thick as Shinguuji set up a laptop and projection screen. Once he was finished, Harukawa stood.

“I had Shinguuji write up some slides to help explain. Be grateful to Akamatsu; she thought you’d be too confused otherwise.” She pressed a button on the laptop and the first slide came up.

**A Beginner’s Guide to the Dark Hour**

“Really? Is this what we’re calling it?” Akamatsu sighed. “I thought my suggestions were much better.”

“It’s best to be simple. I know there’s at least one idiot in the room.”

Beside Shuichi, Momota shifted and mumbled under his breath.

 

“What you all experienced the other night is what is referred to as the Dark Hour. It happens at midnight every night. The sky goes green, electronics stop working, you get the deal.” Harukawa looked bored as she flipped through multiple slides filled with text. Shinguuji looked like he wanted to say something, but he refrained.

 

She paused on a slide titled “Rules”. “So. Curfew and why it’s important not to break it.” She gave Momota a hard look. “As you all saw, there are monsters. They’re called Shadows, and they’re not something you want to face off against without the proper skillset or tools.” She shifted her gaze to the rest of the group. “You run into one, you run away. I won’t always be there to save you if you decide to wander around at midnight.”

 

Questions burned in Shuichi’s throat, but he resisted asking. However, that didn’t stop Momota from speaking his mind. “What do you mean by that? Is there a way to fight them?”

Two voices answered him at the same time. “Not for you.” “Well, sorta.” They paused, and Harukawa allowed Akamatsu the floor.

 

“Normally, people turn into these coffins during the Dark Hour. We’re still uncertain, but based on our experience we believe people that stay aware - and don’t immediately get attacked - have the ability to fight against them.

“Of course, that’s just a thought. I mean, I can’t really fight them.” She rubbed her arm, a wry smile on her face. “I’m just... able to heal people, I guess.” Heal? Was that what Harukawa meant earlier?

“I am inclined to believe that I do not possess any innate abilities,” Shinguuji remarked, “I have spent a great deal of time with the two of them but I have yet to experience the same sensations they claim to feel when approached by a Shadow.”

 

“So as you see,” Harukawa continued, “We don’t have any solid evidence of anything, so the best course of action would be that you all put your safety over your curiosity. Next rule.” She shut down any objections that would arise and forcefully switched slides.

 

The next slide was... interesting, to say the least.

 

There were a variety of pictures of Ouma, some of which were normal, and others that were completely nonsensical and likely parodies of memes. Amidst the jumble of pictures, Shuichi could barely make out the text “don’t feed the wild Ouma”.

Harukawa paused, as if taking in the absurdity of the slide as well. After a long second, she snapped back. “If you happen to be out and you see this brat, during either the daytime or the Dark Hour, do not initiate contact. Do not respond to  _ his _ attempts at contact. Pretend he doesn’t exist. If you get childish texts from an unknown number, block it; it’s probably him.”

 

Akamatsu objected. “It’s that going a little too far? I mean, Ouma-kun’s not that bad-” At Harukawa’s glare, she backtracked. “Okay, maybe a little, but still!”

If anything, the glare grew in intensity. Maintaining eye contact, Harukawa backed herself towards the screen and pointed at Ouma’s face. She then broke away to glare at the rest of the group. “If you see this  _ hellspawn, _ do not engage,” She spat, separating her words forcefully.

 

Shuichi decided it was for the best to not mention he had already spoken with Ouma multiple times.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone that's commented and kudo'd so far, I'm happy to see people are enjoying this! Next chapter will be out on Thursday, and since we'll be hitting free time in a few chapters, who of the introduced cast so far (excluding Ouma) would you like to see some extra scenes with?


	4. Fool

Once the meeting was done, Momota was the first to rush out, yelling about how he'd see them tomorrow. Chabashira and Harukawa were quick to follow, leaving Shuichi alone with Shinguuji and Akamatsu.

“She asked me to make this presentation, but she barely used it,” Shinguuji sighed, “What a shame. At least it was good for compiling our current knowledge of the situation.”

Well, the text had been sort of dense and hard to read... “Do you mind if I ask some questions then?” He asked, still curious about a variety of things.

The two of them perked up. “Of course!” Akamatsu enthusiastically jumped out of her seat and moved over to sit by him. “What did you want to know?”

 

“Well...” He paused, composing his thoughts. “Could you explain more about this ability to fight Shadows? What’s it like?”

Akamatsu took a minute to respond. “It's like... when we encounter one, this feeling rises up. The best way I can describe it is... when I play the piano, I get really focused and energized, and everything else gets blocked out.

 

“Then, for me at least, I can channel that energy into others and it heals them. Harukawa-san’s more experienced than I am. She can turn that energy into a weapon and sort of... shoot it toward them.”

Shuichi thought back to that night. “Like a gun?”

She nodded. “Exactly. It's pretty impressive, actually.” She glanced aside. “Meanwhile, I have to have physical contact with the person to do anything. Harukawa-san thinks I might be able to do it from afar at some point, but...”

 

“Don't be hard on yourself, Akamatsu-san,” Shinguuji said, “Harukawa-san surely finds your assistance satisfactory. She wouldn't allow you to help her otherwise.”

Shuichi nodded in agreement. “It sounds impressive. She said you healed me, so I appreciate that.”

“Oh!” She turned to him. “How is that feeling? I was surprised you were released so quickly! I was so worried I messed up, or maybe you were in too much pain, you hit your back really bad and didn't wake up, and Harukawa-san said your ribs were still damaged-”

“C-Calm down, I'm alright! It actually doesn’t hurt at all.”

 

And that was true; the painkillers blocked out most of it, so it only really hurt when he put pressure on his ribs. But his back was perfectly fine, which should’ve set him off in the first place as that should’ve been where the pain was the worst.

“That’s a relief.” She smiled, relaxing. Then, she stood and changed the topic. “Alright, while we’re here, let me play the piano for you two!” She gestured to the piano in the corner of the room excitedly, practically running over to it.

 

Shuichi smiled and closed his eyes.

 

* * *

**April 13, 201X - 12:48pm**

Shuichi excused himself from lunch with Akamatsu and Momota under the guise of a bathroom trip. He pulled out his phone as he stepped into the hallway.

[12:48pm] Shuichi: You’re in class 2-E aren’t you?

[12:48pm] Ouma: :O saihara-chan’s detective powers activated at long last!

[12:48pm] Ouma: i was starting to worry my hint wasn’t good enough :’(

 

Down the hallway, the door to 2-E slammed open and Ouma skipped out with a grin. They briefly made eye contact, before he turned and walked in the opposite direction. Shuichi followed, resisting the urge to run in order to catch up. They didn’t go far; Ouma stopped by the stairwell and spun around.

“Saihara-chan, I’ve missed youuu,” he sung, “You’ve been so absent in my life the past two days, I thought I would die of loneliness!”

He flushed at the sudden attention. “Um, this is the first time we’ve really talked in person though. And what about the texts?”

“It’s not the same! Let’s hang out after school, it’ll be fun!”

 

Shuichi got the strong impression that he wasn’t going to have a choice in the matter. If he refused, he suspected Ouma would just bother him until he changed his mind. At that thought, he realized why Harukawa had advised that they ignore him to begin with.

Oh well. Too late for that now. “Alright, where do you want to meet?” Hopefully this wouldn’t come back to bite him later.

“The roof! I like to sit up there after school to avoid certain people.” His tone not matching his words, he left Shuichi with one last grin.

  
  


Shuichi wasn’t sure what to think of him. So, despite all the reasons not to go, he went to the roof as promised after school ended. There, Ouma awaited him, absentmindedly shuffling a deck of cards.

“I was wondering,” he started, sitting down next to him, “How did you know I do detective work?”

“What, no greeting?” He grinned. “Saihara-chan’s so serious! I know everything, don't you know?” When Shuichi didn't buy it, he continued with, “But the truth is that I run everything at this school; I even personally accepted your transfer.”

 

That was certainly a lie. It was too absurd to be true. But the more he rebutted Ouma, the taller tales he spun until Shuichi wasn’t sure where the conversation was going.

“-and that’s how I came to control all the banks across the nation!” He grinned, clearly pleased with the confusion Shuichi was sure was on his face. “Oh, but maybe that’s a lie. I could explain more if you want.”

“I... think I'm good. You'll just keep lying.” Though it was true, Ouma pretended to look as if he was deeply wounded by his words.

 

“Let's talk about Saihara-chan then,” He changed topics with a pout, “Say, do you investigate dead bodies like in detective games and stuff?”

He sighed. “It's not a game, so no. I mostly just help my uncle with small stuff like lost pets and keeping his papers organized. On the rare occasion, he’s taken me along to stakeout restaurants or hotels to investigate a potential affair.”

“Hmm~” He hummed in interest. “Have you heard of Apathy Syndrome?”

Another change in topic, but not an unwelcome one. “Of course, it's all over the news right now.”

 

Within the past month, there had been a handful of cases of people suddenly becoming unresponsive for no apparent medical reason. It was still very new, and oddly enough only occurring in the local area.

“It's so mysterious, isn't it? It sounds like the perfect case for you to investigate with your super skills!”

“I don't think that's something I can solve, I'm not that good...” He pulled his cap down, suddenly uncomfortable.

“Aw don't get emo on me Saiahara-chan, it was only a joke!” His playful grin turned into a sly one. “After all, I already know everything, so why wouldn't I know everything about that too.”

 

“That's another lie.”

“No it's not!”

 

* * *

**April 15, 201X - 10:53pm**

Late night on a weekend meant nothing to Shuichi aside from meaning he didn't have to worry about waking up early the next day. That said, when someone knocked on his door, he couldn’t help but groan at his alone time being cut into. His first assumption was that it was Momota, but as he opened the door he was immediately proved wrong.

“Saihara-chan!” It was Ouma. Why he was so insistent on consuming as many hours of Shuichi’s day as he could, he had no idea. At least he was somewhat quieter than normal as he continued speaking, “I have something fun I want to show you, will you come with me?”

“But we hung out earlier, and-” He glanced at the clock on his desk. “It’s already past the dorm’s curfew, so unless it’s here...”

 

“Rules are stupid, it’s fine to ignore them. Do you reaaally want to miss my cool surprise?”

He sighed. “Why can’t it wait until tomorrow? And how did you even get into the dorm?”

He ignored Shuichi’s second question. “Because it’s time sensitive! You gotta see it now or I’ll cry.” Obviously fake tears welled up alarmingly fast in Ouma’s eyes. When he pointed out that, they dried up as quickly as they came. “Aw, Saihara-chan’s too smart. But...” He grinned. “I could always go tell Harukawa-chan you’re talking to me. I know she told you all not tooooo~”

That was... certainly something he wanted to avoid. He didn’t think his heart could handle the full force of her glare on him.

 

“Blackmail, really? I guess I’ll come...” He went to pull a jacket out of his closet, and Ouma quickly invited himself in.

“By the way, you know what would be really fun?” He dreaded the next words to leave his mouth. “You should bring Akamatsu-chan and Momota-chan! These things are always better with friends.”

“Why just them? There’s other people living here too-”

“No! I don’t like them, they’re either mean or weird, which makes them not fun!” Everything was about what was fun and interesting, Shuichi was learning. “Just them, if you bring them I’ll tell you something good, and 100% truthful!”

 

It was the same thing he had offered back when they first met. He had to admit, his detective’s curiosity was winning over his desire to not leave.

“... Fine. I’m guessing you want me to meet you somewhere then?”

He nodded. “Yep! In front of the school gates is good; I’ll see you there!” With that, Ouma darted out of his room. By the time he zipped up his jacket and poked his head into the hallway, he was gone.

 

Damn. How was he going to convince them to break curfew with him?

 

He decided to start with Momota, since he was on the same floor. Actually, he was right next door to Shuichi; if Ouma had been talking at his normal volume, he wondered if his voice would’ve carried through the walls.

Hesitantly, he knocked on the door, turning excuses around in his head until he settled on the perfect one. Just in time too, as Momota finally opened up.

“Saihara, what’s up?” He looked barely awake, making Shuichi feel bad for being so easily swayed.

“Ah, um, well...” He fiddled with the brim of his cap. “Y-You see, I was working on some stuff to help my uncle with his job, but I think I lost a paper somewhere in-between school and the station. So, um, would you go with me to look for it? Harukawa-san said it was fine as long as I went with Akamatsu-san, but, well, I thought it’d be better to go in a group of three?”

 

He fidgeted nervously under Momota’s tired stare, hoping he would buy it. “Yeah, sure, I don’t mind.” He gave Shuichi a thumbs up, before turning to get better dressed. Shuichi let him be, informing him that he was getting Akamatsu.

He told the same story to her, although with more anxiety since Harukawa was on the same floor. Thankfully, she didn’t question his permission either, only the importance of the paper. The response he gave her wasn’t entirely a lie; while it wasn’t lost, if he had lost any it would’ve been troublesome, especially if it was a time sensitive case.

 

After meeting with Momota downstairs, the three of them set off, chatting lightly and happily between each other while Shuichi sweated bullets. He was beyond glad that his face was mostly hidden under his cap.

“Do you have any idea where you might’ve dropped it?” Akamatsu asked as they left Port Island Station.

“Ah, well...” He had to direct them towards the school, so... “I was sitting outside working on them a bit after school, s-so it would make more sense to be around there..?”

“Let’s get going then,” Momota said, “It’s getting pretty late.” A glance at his phone told him it was a quarter till midnight. His throat tightened nervously.

 

They reached the front of the school gate and turned to him, nervousness on their face too. He opened his mouth to say something, when he was interrupted by both the Dark Hour settling and Ouma’s arrival.

“Helloooooo,” He shouted, running up to them, “Boy, I’m so glad we’re all here at this wonderful time of day, what a coincidence!”

Momota stared at him. “Wait, is this Ouma? The ‘don’t talk to him’ Ouma?”

Meanwhile, Akamatsu gave him a skeptical look. “You put Saihara-kun up to this, then?”

“Yuppers! It was allllll me, Ouma Kokichi!” He folded his arms behind his head proudly. Shuichi started to apologize when he was cut off again. “But now’s not the time for that; take a look at the school.”

 

He turned, and found himself having to strain his neck to look upwards in shock. The building had transformed into a tower, looming high up into the sky. Twisting and jutting out randomly, a mess yet somehow perfectly balanced. The waning moon bathed it in a glow that made it feel... otherworldly.

 

“What... What the hell is  _ this _ ?” Momota whispered beside him, a sentiment he related to entirely.

“I know,” Akamatsu replied, holding her hands close to her chest, “Shinguuji-kun and Harukawa-san call it Tartarus. I’ve... been here once.” She looked pained. “It wasn’t good.”

“That’s ‘cause Harukawa-chan is reckless,” Ouma sang, picking at his fingernails idly. “We’ll have much more fun, four is the perfect number for a team.” Then, perhaps because Shuichi was the weakest of the three, Ouma grabbed his wrist and quickly pulled him along towards the tower, forcing Akamatsu and Momota to follow.

 

“Ouma-kun! We can’t be in here!” She hissed once they came to a stop. Shuichi stared at the lobby in wonder; it was a sleek, elegant room with a steep staircase in the middle. But it felt sinister, like a deep evil was swirling in the dark wallpaper. As his eyes traveled upward, they fell on what laid at the top of the stairs: a gigantic clock with an opening in the bottom. An entrance to the next floor?

“Huuuh? Why not?”

“This place is crawling with Shadows, and since Harukawa-san’s not here-”

Ouma cut her off. “Who cares, we won’t go far in; the ones on the first floors are super weak and scared of everything anyway.” He skipped over to the stairs and begin to climb, calling over his shoulder:

 

“Now, step forward! That is, if you’re not afraid to die.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _The Fool: potential, beginnings, fearlessness | recklessness, naivety, impulsiveness_
> 
> As I return to school next week, updates will probably become become more spread out. My goal is to upload a chapter each Thursday at the minimum, but we'll see how that goes ^^
> 
> But for now, see you next Thursday with chapter 5!


	5. First Level of Hell

Momota was the first to run after him, yelling about how he wasn’t a coward. Shuichi wasn’t sure that was what Ouma had meant by his ominous words, but when Akamatsu followed behind out of worry, he realized he had no choice; he had to go as well.

Ouma grinned at them from the top of the stairs, bowing and gesturing toward the opening once they reached the top. “Gentlemen, lady, after you.” Momota had no problem falling for his mocking again, and Akamatsu only hesitated for a moment before entering as well.

Shuichi waited. “Why do you want us to go in so badly? It can’t just be for fun.”

He tapped his finger against his cheek in response. “Hm, I wonder.” He shot him a wink and ducked inside. Shuichi sighed, before reluctantly following.

 

As if entering some sort of portal, the darkness enveloped him for only a brief moment, before he walked out into a dim hallway. When he glanced behind him, the entrance was gone.

“Alrighty, we’re all here,” Ouma cheered, “Spooky, huh? Don’t worry, Momota-chan, if you get scared you can hide behind me!”

“Like hell I will!” He shouted, his voice echoing down the hall and immediately silencing the group.

 

After a long moment, Shuichi asked, “So, how do we leave..?”

“Leave? Why would you want to leave, we just got here,” Ouma teased, and he began to walk away.

“Let’s stick with him for now,” Akamatsu suggested, turning to them, “There’s these devices that can bring us back to the entrance on each floor, we just need to stick together and find it.”

He nodded in agreement. “That sounds good.”

 

It was easier said than done. They walked in the direction Ouma had headed off in, but in the few seconds they had their attention off him, he had slipped away.

“Damn, where’d he go?” Momota cursed, scratching at his chin in frustration, “I swear, if he pops out suddenly I’m gonna-”

Suddenly, Akamatsu stopped. “Wait, do you hear something?” They paused, holding their breath as they listened.

 

A sharp whine sounded, almost like an animal in distress but pitched much higher. It unsettled him, and from the look on their faces his companions felt the same. It made him not want to move, but at the same time curiosity was tugging at his heart.

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon~” Ouma’s voice echoed off the walls, cheerful and urging. Somehow, Shuichi’s body calmed, and he found himself pulling ahead. He turned the corner and stopped.

  
  


It was a Shadow, though far smaller than the one that had attacked them on the roof. It was barely as big as a cat, and it shook and swayed as Ouma casually walked circles around it. He stopped and waved when he noticed Shuichi staring.

“Look! Target practice!” He mimed holding a gun and firing it at the Shadow; it squealed in apparent terror at the motion. It dragged itself along the floor by its hands, squirming to get away from him. He almost felt bad for it, until it saw them and its attitude changed.

 

It rushed at them with speed it hadn’t previously displayed, knocking Shuichi over with a headbutt to his lower legs. He cried out in pain, clutching the leg that was hit worse; that was definitely going to bruise horribly.

“Saihara!” “Saihara-kun!” His attention flickered over to the others, who stared at him in shock. That only lasted a second, however, as the Shadow turned its attention towards them and attempted another attack.

 

Ouma walked over to him, face blank.

 

“Say.” He knelt down to him, ignoring Momota and Akamatsu’s frantic dodging in the background. “Don’t you feel it?” He pointed at Shuichi’s chest. “Right there?”

All he felt was pain. At least, that was all it was, until he turned back to the fight in concern. Something... tight squeezed in his chest. But it wasn’t the type of sensation that made him want to cough. It wasn’t painful either, nothing like anxiety hitting his heart.

Ouma grabbed his wrist in a forceful motion, using his other hand to shape Shuichi’s hand into a familiar gun gesture.

“You need to just-” He pushed to aim his index finger at the Shadow. “-do it.”

 

His mind - no, the world - went silent.

 

A crack split the air, and a chunk was ripped out of the Shadow’s shoulder. It screeched, writhing as a black liquid gushed from the gaping wound. Shuichi stared down at his hand, or rather, the indigo blue gun that had willed itself into existence. He clenched his hand; it didn’t feel like it was there, but at the same time it didn’t feel like it wasn't there either. Regardless, it had shot something, and that something had damaged the Shadow.

He pulled himself to his feet, suddenly invigorated. The other two ran over to him, putting him in-between them and the Shadow.

 

“Okay, Saihara, do that again and finish it off!” Momota encouraged, though his voice shook from stress. Akamatsu said nothing, but she looked relieved and her eyes shone. Shuichi felt strong. He aimed the gun. This time, he was able to catch the streak of a translucent orange bullet before it shattered into the mask the Shadow wore, causing it to dissolve entirely into a black puddle.

 

“Alright! Great job man!” He was pulled into a tight side hug, Momota enthusiastically patting his back both physically and verbally. The gun disappeared from his hand at the surprise, leaving his hand feeling empty.

“That was amazing, Saihara-kun!” Akamatsu chimed in, her smile wide. “You picked it up so quickly and- Oh?” She stopped and looked around. Shuichi frowned and did the same. Ouma had disappeared again. “Why is he being like this?” She sighed.

 

“No worries, we’ve got Saihara with us; and hell, if he can do it I bet it’ll be an easy task for me!” Momota boasted, still clasping his shoulder. Starting to get uncomfortable from the attention, Shuichi pulled away and fingered his hat nervously.

“It’s nothing that great, it just... happened.”

“C’mon, don’t be so hard on yourself. Let’s go look for that exit device.”

 

Leading the way confidently, Momota grilled him for details about how it felt. Honestly though, he felt a bit tired now that the adrenaline had worn off. The pain in his legs started to return, slowing his steps until it was noticeable that he was limping.

Akamatsu’s eyes widened. “Oh, shoot, I’m so sorry!” She walked over to him and forced him to sit down and pull his pant legs up. He winced as she wrapped her hands around his shins and squeezed, closing her eyes. After a few seconds, a cool soothing feeling rushed into his legs, numbing the pain.

 

“Alright, that should be good!” She pulled away shortly after, hopping to her feet with a smile. “Feel better?” She offered her hand to pull him up, and he accepted it.

“Y-Yeah, um, thank you.” Harukawa and Shinguuji really weren’t kidding; her healing was incredible. Unfortunately, the calm moment passed too quickly.

 

“Look alive everyone!” Ouma’s voice called out from somewhere, and a shape flew through the air above them. As it spun to readjust itself, Shuichi identified it as another Shadow. It had to be, even if it looked much different; it still had that mask, and this  _ was _ a Shadow nest.

Shuichi was vaguely aware of Momota drawing closer to him while he was concentrating on that feeling in his chest again. “Ha, this’ll be a piece of- Woah?!” That was all the warning Shuichi got as he was yanked to the side, a small wisp of fire falling where they had stood.

“Yeah, some of them do that,” Akamatsu called out to them, keeping her distance, “Might be better to just run from this one.”

 

“I agree-” He began to say, when Ouma spoke over him.

“Yep, time to run and hide, Momota-chan!” Another bait, but before Shuichi could grab his arm to hold him still, he was already running forward.

“I'm not a goddamn coward!” He yelled, attempting to punch the Shadow. He missed by a long shot since it was flying, but that didn't stop him from attempting again. And again. And again.

 

“Momota-kun, you're not going to hit it, get away before it hurts you!” Akamatsu shouted, looking torn between staying safe and jumping in to make him stop. Shuichi was shaking too much to focus on trying to fight it himself.

“Shut up, I got this!” He swung again, and it easily dodged. Another small ball of fire welled up near it mask, causing the two of them to cry out in alarm. Momota either didn’t notice or didn’t care, as he let out a long frustrated yell and swiped upward.

 

He blinked, and a bright orange blade cut the Shadow in half. Momota’s left hand now held a sword where one hadn’t been previously, just like with the gun earlier. They stood silent, frozen in shock, while Momota - drenched in sweat - let out a triumphant cheer.

“See, what’d I tell you? Piece of cake!” He waved his newly gained weapon around testingly, a wide grin on his face. Still, he looked as tired as Shuichi felt.

 

“I... have some very choice words for you, but that’ll have to wait,” Akamatsu sighed, “Ouma-kun, are you done messing around now?” Shuichi followed her gaze to find him leaning against the wall.

“Hmm, maybe,” He pushed himself off the wall and waved them over, lazily walking around the corner. They followed cautiously, wary of another Shadow popping out. And more did appear, though they hadn’t noticed the group yet. They surrounded a bright green box, and Akamatsu gasped.

“That’s the exit device!”

“Yup!” Ouma confirmed, before looking to Shuichi and Momota. “Why don’t you two clean up, then? There’s only three of them, it shouldn’t be hard with these weak ones.”

 

Momota shrugged in agreement, while Shuichi wasn’t so sure. “Why don’t you help, Ouma-kun?” All he got in response was a cheeky grin and a finger covering his lips. Another secret then?

“Forget him, we got this Saihara.” Momota attempted to walk forward to confront the Shadows, when Akamatsu grabbed his wrist.

“Wait, let Saihara-kun get ready first.” They looked at him expectantly, and he felt anxiety swirl in his chest.

“U-Um, ah, I, um, don't know if I can do it again...” The confidence he felt earlier had dropped off entirely, leaving him shaky and on edge. He stared down at his feet, ashamed of his weakness.

 

“Hey, it's alright,” Akamatsu said softly, “You're overthinking it, I'm sure you can do it. Believe in yourself.” He took a deep breath, staring at his hand. He didn't feel anything abnormal. That is, until something shifted against his head, making him look up.

“H-Hey?!” Ouma stood in front of him, holding his hat in his hands.

“I’ll give this back later, ‘k?” He grinned, then dashed towards the Shadows. They hurried away from the exit device with a collection of panicked screeches. “I believe in you, Saihara-chan, so see you later!” He stepped into the green light and vanished. Shuichi and Momota just watched, their mouths agape.

 

His head felt cold and empty. But he hardly had time to focus on that, as the Shadows finally noticed their presence and moved towards them.

Akamatsu fell back as Momota stepped forward. “Momota-kun, target the flying one; Saihara-kun, we'll leave the two ground ones to you.” They voiced their acknowledgement, and Momota charged forward to swing at his assigned Shadow. Shuichi focused on his, pushing down his anxiety. Needles pricked his hands and he clenched them shut.

 

Deep breath, gun gesture-

 

It was back. He resisted the urge to laugh in relief, instead moving to aim at the closer Shadow. As he pulled the trigger and a bullet fired, he realized he had no idea how this gun worked. Both the Shadow and the panic in his chest exploded.

“Yeah! Good goin’ Saihara!” Momota’s cheer didn't stop his hand from shaking. Shuichi watched numbly as he sliced chunks out of the flying one. What was even going on? None of this was normal, why was no one panicking except him? How could they just-

 

A shout of pain, followed by Akamatsu yelling Momota’s name, snapped him back to reality. A small chunk of ice had erupted from the ground and torn Momota’s pants and skin. He dropped to a knee and clenched his leg, cursing and waving a now flickering blade at the remaining ground Shadow. Above him, the other shot a ball of fire at the space his head had previously occupied.

“Saihara-kun, you need to cover us!” Akamatsu didn't wait for him to respond or apologize; she was already running towards Momota to help him. His hands- no, his entire body still shaking, his eyes flickered between the two Shadows, trying to determine which to aim for.

 

He decided on the flying one, raising his gun towards it and firing a bullet. It missed, but it distracted the Shadow enough to leave the other two alone. He fired a few more shots, but it easily weaved around his unskilled aim. But as he dodged it trying to bash into him, he realized something: neither of the Shadows were anywhere near the exit. They could rush over to it and escape without fighting.

“Akamatsu-san, the exit?” She looked up from staring intensely at Momota’s leg, glancing at him then the device.

“What, no!” Momota objected, still waving off the ground Shadow with wide swipes of his blade, “We got this, just-” He was interrupted by Akamatsu jerking him to the side, avoiding another chunk of ice.

 

“Good idea, but I need a few more seconds; could you take care of this one?” She jerked her head at their Shadow, and Shuichi nodded. The ground ones were easier for him to hit so he felt a bit more confident as he fired two shots at it. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the grossness of the black sludge it dissolved into, but he was beginning to feel sick. His gun was getting the same patchiness that Momota’s sword held and he had a feeling that wasn’t a good thing.

“Alright, get up, we’re leaving!” Akamatsu ordered, pulling him to his feet and shoving him towards the device. Shuichi rushed over to follow them, and the three of them entered the green light, leaving the last Shadow in the dust.

 

That weird blackout - though it was more of a whiteout now - sensation from earlier returned, and when the world’s brightness went back to normal they were in the lobby.

 

Ouma sat on the stairs, spinning Shuichi’s cap on his fingers with apparent boredom. His blank expression turned back into its normal grin once he noticed their arrival.

“Welcome back! Looks like you survived this trip to Hell, huh?” He stood up, and Akamatsu stormed over to him.

“Barely, no thanks to you. Come on, we’re going.” She grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the entrance.

In response, he began to cry. “Waaaaaah! Akamatsu-chan’s bullying me!” When none of them reacted to his fake tears, he pouted and submitted to being dragged out. Shuichi was too tired to do anything except follow them and Momota out.

 

When they were outside, she let go of his arm, though she still looked upset. “Please say you had a good reason for this, because I really don’t like  _ this.” _ She held her hands out palms up, showing off dried blood from healing Momota’s injury. It was brief, but Shuichi noticed Ouma’s eyes flicker down towards where she had grabbed his clothes.

“But of course I did!” He waved off her display, turning away from the three of them. “I had plenty of good reasons.”

“That’s not an answer,” Shuichi said, then paused. “And can you give me my hat back please?”

Ouma sighed. “Fiiiiine.” He walked over and handed it to him. As he fitted it back onto his head, he finally answered. “By the way Saihara-chan, did you know? Sometimes, the best way to teach someone something is to throw them into the deep end and force them to overcome it.”

 

And with that, he ran off, leaving the three of them behind in their confusion.


	6. Reassurance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just in case: warning for anxiety/panic attacks

**April 16, 201X - 10:04am**

Shuichi sat on the couch in the dorm’s lobby, blankly watching some shopping show on the TV. He was too exhausted from the previous night to do anything but lie around, but it wasn’t like the other two were much better. Momota had joined him in his sitting after a late breakfast, only to pass out on the other couch half an hour into it.

 

They had all agreed not to tell Harukawa what had happened. None of them were keen on being reprimanded for their rule breaking, after all.

 

He didn’t feel very good about it all. His actions had led to him and Momota getting hurt, and Akamatsu being put in danger’s way. And with how tired they had all been, he didn’t get the chance to apologize for the mess he dragged them into with his submissiveness. The guilt sat heavy in his chest as he zoned out, lost in his self deprivation.

“-and if you order today, we’ll throw in a bead chain for the low price of 20,000 yen! That's right, only-”

“Geez, you're watching this?” Akamatsu appeared in his peripheral, carrying a keyboard and a stack of music in her arms. “I hope I don't need to worry about you buying anything; his whole show is a huge scam.”

 

It likely wasn't her intention, but her joke only added more tangles to the knot in his stomach. He scanned the area, before words came tumbling out of his mouth unceremoniously.

“I'm sorry about what happened last night. I didn't mean to trick you, I just-”

Her eyes widened. “H-Hey, calm down. I'm not upset at _you.”_ She set her keyboard down with a clunk; that and their raised voices appeared to stir Momota, who grumbled and turned to look at them from his position. “I know Ouma-kun is good at getting his way, and that he tends to be a troublemaker.”

“Even so, I...” He swallowed. “I should've ignored him.”

“I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t have worked.” She smiled. “But really, it's okay. I mean, I knew you were lying from the start anyway.”

“Huh?”

Momota sat up. “Wait, really?”

 

She nodded. “The bit about Harukawa-san was what set me off; she would've just said to wait or do it by yourself if you were that desperate. She wouldn't want you dragging others into it. Plus, bringing Momota-kun along? That was suspicious.”

“Hey! What's suspicious about bringing me?! I'll have you know I'm great trustworthy company,” he objected, his loud volume setting off a spike of pain in Shuichi’s head. But, if she had known, then...

“Ah, um, then why didn’t you say anything?”

She looked at him with a small smile. “Mostly curiosity, and there was the chance that you would go with or without us, so I wanted to come along just in case. Which was the right choice, seeing what happened.”

 

“I, I see...” Her reasoning made sense, but it didn’t alleviate his guilt entirely. “I’m still sorry.”

“Man, you don’t need to apologize so much,” Momota sighed, running his fingers through his hair, “At the end, it was actually kinda fun, and we’re fine so it’s no big deal.” He paused. “Though, I _am_ tired as fuck today; you know what’s up with that, Akamatsu?”

“Well...” She hesitated, organizing her music on her keyboard’s stand as she searched for the answer. “I can’t exactly remember how Harukawa-san explained it. She doesn’t get tired or hurt very easily so it doesn’t come up much. I think it has something to do with how our... powers? work.”

 

“You were waving your sword around a lot,” Shuichi pointed out, “Maybe you just burnt a ton of energy doing that?”

“Aw c’mon, I’m not _that_ weak. Besides, uh, well, it was sorta like...” He dropped his fingers from combing his hair to his lap. “It was like, when I hit them, that was what made me feel tired.”

Akamatsu nodded in agreement. “I feel a bit tired after I heal someone, I know that. It’s probably the same with you and your bullets, Saihara-kun. Just, when you fire instead of when they hit, maybe?” That made some sense. But the real question was _why._

 

It was a question none of them could answer.

 

* * *

Things were not okay.

 

God, how could he be so _stupid?_ He covered his head with his pillow, trying to stop his shaking. It had been a horrible mistake to stay up late enough for the Dark Hour to hit, and now all the worries he had pushed away earlier resurfaced. He couldn’t stop thinking about how much he screwed up. Akamatsu and Momota were relaxed earlier, but surely that was just because they were too tired to be upset. It was only a matter of time before they changed their minds about the situation, and then they would tell Harukawa, and then he’d be kicked out of the dorm, and of the school, and he’d be a failure, and his uncle would disown him, and-

 

He needed to come clean. That was the only thing he could do to make this worst case scenario slightly better. Maybe if he took the initiative, there’d be the slightest chance she’d go easy on him.

Who was he kidding? Shuichi shuddered as he stepped out into the hallway, suddenly hyperaware of the memory of Harukawa glaring at them, demanding their ostracization of Ouma. She had been even more serious about that rule than the curfew, and that one had been for the safety of their lives. She wouldn’t forgive him. It was all over.

 

Accepting his fate, he slowly made his way towards the stairwell, or, well, he tried to at least. He didn’t get much farther than the end of the hallway before his trembling and anxiety-induced nausea got too strong and he had to sit down. Why was he so _weak?_ This was why Momota got injured, and then Akamatsu got upset that she had blood on her hands. That was all his fault because he couldn’t suck it up and shoot the stupid Shadows. Maybe it was a good thing that he was going to get booted out of the entire city; they didn’t need him around to mess everything up and get them hurt or killed.

 

“I do not intend to disturb you, but it appears as if you’re not alright, Saihara-kun.” Shinguuji’s voice penetrated his destructive thoughts, making him realize how he was struggling to breathe. “Would you like some assistance in getting back to your room, or to wherever you were intending to go?”

“I, it’s, ah,” He gasped, words not forming. He was faintly aware of his cheeks being wet with tears so he focused on that, roughly clearing his face of them.

“Water, then?” When Shuichi didn’t- couldn’t respond, he took that as an affirmative. “Please, wait here.” He disappeared for a short period of time, before a bottle of water was placed into Shuichi’s hands. He stared at it, squeezing the full plastic mindlessly. It felt nice.

 

They sat in silence for a few minutes, before Shuichi’s hands stopped shaking enough to open the bottle and take a sip. His head hurt.

“The Dark Hour can be hard on the body and mind; you need not feel ashamed for any weakness that may arise while experiencing it.” Dark Hour, Shadows, Shadows, Dark Hour, why? Why why why why why why-

“Can we talk about something other than that?” He croaked out.

There was a pause before Shinguuji answered. “Certainly. Do you happen to know much on anthropology?”

“Not really.” Just that he studied it, but that much was too tiring to say.

“I can explain some, if you would like.”

 

He nodded, and Shinguuji began to overview his studies. Shuichi couldn’t say that he really absorbed any of it, but it was good to have that noise to block out his panic and anxiety. So, albeit slowly, his thoughts began to return to their more logical side, helping him calm down enough to properly engage. By that point, the Dark Hour had ended, bringing with it a wave of tiredness.

“Sorry, Shinguuji-kun,” he breathed out, pulling himself to his feet with the aid of the wall, “I didn’t mean to hold you up. Thanks for staying with me for a bit.”

“It’s quite alright, I was merely returning to my room, nothing more or less. Spending this period of time with you has been no bother, I assure you.” He stood as well, adjusting his black sickness mask. “If you ever need company or a conversation partner, feel free to come find me. Interacting with others is, in my experience, always quite fascinating.”

 

“I’ll... keep that in mind.” Shuichi wasn’t sure that Shinguuji would be interested in any conversation he could bring to the table, but it was nice to know that that option was open to him. Perhaps he could learn some more useful information about their situation from him?

“I would be pleased if you did.” His eyes creased, so he was probably smiling. “I’ll be taking my leave now, so goodnight.”

 

* * *

**April 17th, 201X - 7:33pm**

Shuichi sighed as he lounged on the couch, dropping the arm holding his phone off the side. Ouma wasn’t answering his texts, and he hadn’t been on the roof or in plain sight at school. He was hoping to get some answers now that he was calmer, but it seemed that was going to have to wait. There was also the fact that, in the midst of everything, he had completely forgotten that Ouma had promised him information of some kind.

“Man, you look like you’re moping,” Momota said, approaching him from across the room. He looked like he was dressed to go out, sparking some curiosity in him.

“Ah, sorry. Are you going somewhere?” He sat up, shoving his phone into his pocket.

“Yup, and you’re coming with!” He grinned at Shuichi.

 

And that’s how he ended up at a beef bowl shop a short while later, accompanied by an overly enthusiastic Momota.

“The bowls here are so good, I’m surprised you haven’t been here yet,” he said between shoving noodles into his mouth. Shuichi poked at it hesitantly, waiting for it to cool.

“Well, I’ve only been here about...” He paused, calculating it in his head. “Two weeks? Less than that?” So much had happened in the past week that his arrival felt like an eternity ago. “Between everything and school, it’s not like I’ve had exploring the area on my mind.”

Momota looked as if he’d kicked a puppy. “Man, that’s gotta change. Tomorrow, we’re gonna hit up Paulownia Mall and check out the arcade.”

 

Nodding and agreeing was quickly becoming Shuichi’s go-to response for dealing with all these sudden developments, and he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. It certainly hadn’t helped him the other night- could he just. stop thinking about that for five minutes.

Likely not seeing his increasing desire to tear his own hair out, Momota spoke up. “Hey, you gonna eat or what? It’s gonna get cold if you just sit there, so if you don’t want me to eat it-”

“It, it’s not cold; my mouth isn’t burn resistant like yours,” he answered defensively, pulling his food closer to him. Momota laughed at him in response.

“If you can’t handle a little heat, you’ll never reach the stars! You gotta remember that. Ah, but don’t worry; this great life advice from the Luminary of the Stars himself is on the house for my best sidekick!”

 

“S-Sidekick?”

“But of course!” Momota grinned. “The other night, you and I kicked so much ass, and it’s only natural that a hero like me would need great support like you as my sidekick.” He paused, as if noticing the tension that grew in Shuichi just from the mention of what happened. “You’re so hard on yourself, it’s honestly painful to watch. So you can trust me to take responsibility for your mistakes.”

His chest tightened. “You don’t need to do that. I... It was my fault.”

“And I’m telling you it’s fine. It’s a hero’s duty to look out for his sidekicks.” Before Shuichi could object again, Momota reached over the table and stole a chunk of beef from his bowl, averting his attention.

“H-Hey! Give that back!”

“I warned you, Saihara! It’s mine now!” They bickered over the stolen food for a bit, and Shuichi began to truly feel at ease.


	7. Reluctant

**April 18th, 201X - 4:12pm**

Their outing to the arcade was interrupted abruptly by Ouma finally reappearing. In fact, it looked as if he had been waiting for them to arrive.

“Momota-chan, Saihara-chan, it’s so good to see you again!” He greeted them with a wide smile, as if he hadn’t thrown them headfirst into danger three nights prior.

“Where have you been, Ouma-kun?”

“Huuuh? Was I supposed to be somewhere? Wow, I didn’t know we were exclusive already Saihara-chan!” He avoided the question, stirring frustration in him. “I'm flattered you're so possessive of me!”

“That's not what I-”

 

“Well, whatever. Me and Saihara are gonna play some games so don’t make a scene.” Momota walked around Ouma and gave Shuichi a pointed look. Hesitantly, he did the same, and wasn’t surprised when Ouma followed behind them.

“Aw, but I thought you wanted to play with me too! Isn’t that why you mentioned it to me?”

“Huh?” He glanced at Momota, who froze up.

“N-No! I was just sayin’ I had plans, not inviting you along!”

Ouma grinned and pulled out his phone, before narrating in a high voice, “‘Oh, Ouma-chan, I just can’t wait for our date with Saihara tomorrow at the arcade!’”

 

“Give me that you lil shit!” Momota lunged at him, trying to grab the phone. Shuichi resisted the urge to remind him that any text message between them would be on his phone as well, and instead headed off to get tokens while they bickered. Thankfully, by the time he returned they had calmed down; for a moment, he was worried that they’d get them kicked out with their horseplay.

“For the record,” Momota began loudly upon his return, “I didn’t invite him. I just said I wouldn’t hang out with him because I was hanging out with you.”

He laughed. “I figured. It’s fine, Momota-kun.”

Ouma sniffled. “I’m so sad that Momota-chan doesn’t want to spend time with me. After I came all this way, you’re going to ignore me?”

 

Momota ignored him.

 

... At least, he did for the first half hour. But true to Akamatsu’s words, Ouma was incredibly persistent. He followed the two of them around as they tried out various games, poking fun at them when they lost and snatching up the tickets when they won. At least he was a convenient extra set of arms.

“Oooh look! Someone just left the Despair Destroyer in New Game+ mode!” He pulled Shuichi by the arm over to a shooter with megaphones instead of guns, causing Momota to let out a sharp “Hey!” in protest. As the timer clicked down on the screen, Ouma slotted two coins into the machine.

 

“Two? Are you going to use both of them?” Shuichi asked.

Ouma grinned as he picked up one of the megaphones. “I could, but...” He picked up the other one and pushed it into his hands. “Co-op is more fun, and you need to practice your aim.”

“M-My aim?”

A rough pat to his back stopped any thoughts that would arise. “Alright, Saihara, kick his ass. You got this.”

Well, it wasn’t a gun at least. He could handle a video game, even if he prefered to play ones that weren’t so... actiony. And it looked like they were destroying robots, so there wasn’t gore either.

 

Like most arcade games, there was no tutorial. However, “New Game+” meant that they assumed that the player knew and was experienced with the controls, and so Shuichi struggled to keep up as the difficulty spiked at an accelerated rate. The only thing that kept him from losing was the advice from Momota and lazy support from Ouma. They didn’t get very far before they were met with a game over, and when Shuichi refused to hand over more coins to restart, Ouma let out an over-exaggerated yawn in forced disinterest.

“Okay, I’m bored with the arcade now. Let’s go somewhere else.”

 

They were led across the mall to a cafe. The sweet aroma of coffee drifted out to the entrance and Shuichi found he immediately liked the place. What was it called - Chagall Cafe? He’d have to remember that for later.

“Are you ever going to stop avoiding my questions, Ouma-kun?” He asked once they’d received their drinks.

“Whaaaat? Me, avoiding your questions?” Ouma dumped a generous amount of sugar and cream into his coffee. “I would never! In fact, let’s talk about the Dark Hour right now, surrounded by people to overhear!”

“No one’s listening,” Momota rebutted, “Just answer Saihara already.”

 

Ouma hummed, cheerfully stirring his coffee. A thick silence consumed the table as they waited for him to answer. “I suppose it’s fine,” he finally whined out begrudgingly, “So the info I promised? You wouldn’t know, but the Dark Hour and Tartarus weren’t always around. It’s actually a fairly recent thing.”

“Really?” That was interesting. Though it made some level of sense, from how underprepared everyone seemed to be when it came to it.

“Yep! Would I lie to you?”

 

Before Shuichi could answer with “probably”, Momota spoke up, “Yeah, he’s actually right. I mean, I wouldn’t call a few years recent, but...” He sighed. “I’ve actually been seeing it happen for at least two or three. Not that I knew what it was; my grandparents said I was probably just dreamin’ it or something.”

“Wow, Momota-chan’s pretty knowledgeable.” Shuichi wasn’t sure if that was sarcastic or not, and the shit-eating grin Ouma wore didn’t help clarify. “I think it’s been that long, maybe. Maybe not. Who knows.”

“Why does it happen? What is it, and Tartarus?” Those were the main questions he had, the ones that didn’t seem to be getting answered.

 

It looked like he wouldn’t be getting it from Ouma either. “I dunno! It just does, I don’t question it. I just go with the flow and have fun with it, you know?” That was probably a lie. He sighed.

“Ouma-kun, seriously-”

Momota interrupted him. “Okay wait, I have a question.” They both paused and looked to him. “So like... Technology doesn’t work, right? So what happens if you’re on an airplane and midnight hits?”

Ouma looked at him as if he’d grown a second head. “I, what?”

“See?! It’s weird, isn’t it?” He nodded as if he’d made a startling revelation. “What do you think, Saihara?”

 

“Uhh...” He didn’t know how to answer that. He certainly didn’t know anything about the inner workings of the Dark Hour. “Maybe they just... freeze or something.” That felt lame and wrong. His insides twisted uncomfortably.

“But they’d crash! Gravity would bring them down!”

“Well clearly _something’s_ keeping them up, else they’d crash faster than your brain trying to be smart,” Ouma suddenly quipped, “Have _you_ seen multiple reports of planes crashing and thus all overnight flights being indefinitely cancelled?”

“W-Well, no, but-” His head swung around to look at Shuichi. “Back me up! You think it’s weird too, right?”

 

He sighed; how did he get dragged into such a ridiculous argument?

 

* * *

**April 21, 201X - 3:09pm**

“Alright, it’s decided!” Akamatsu declared as she returned to the classroom, Chabashira in tow.

“What’s decided?” Shuichi turned towards them, curious.

“You’re joining a sports club!” He was? This was news to him.

“Oh, nice!” Momota remained oblivious to his confusion. “This is great, you could use some training.”

“Right?” Akamatsu nodded in agreement. “So could you help Tenko-san get him signed up for one?”

“Sure thing!” He gave her a thumbs up.

 

“W-Wait, don’t I get a say in this?” He tried to protest. The three of them barely blinked in his direction. “Akamatsu-san!”

She ignored his pleas and checked her phone. “I gotta get going, you have fun now!” And she was gone. Great. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, he reluctantly let an enthusiastic Momota and a wary Chabashira guide him downstairs to check out the facilities.

“Man, I wish the tennis team wasn’t full, then you could join me and we could train together,” Momota complained as they stepped into a room, the smell of chlorine immediately hitting his nose.

 

Shuichi froze in the doorway. “I’m not joining the swim team.” He pulled back as quick as he could, ignoring Momota’s surprised shout.

Chabashira was close at his heels. “Well, at least one of you menaces has some taste.” She glared back at the pool, and at Momota.

“Hey, what’s wrong with swimming?”

Shuichi sighed. “I just... am not a really strong swimmer. If I have to join a team, I’m not doing something I’m guaranteed to fail at.”

“Overcoming failure makes you stronger-” He tried to protest.

“Maybe for you, but I just- I just want to do something else, okay?” Shuichi felt himself shriveling up and he hated it.

 

Sensing a losing argument, Momota dropped it, and they moved on to the next room.

Chabashira suddenly swelled with pride. “This is the club Tenko’s in! Aikido!” Then, her face scrunched up in displeasure. “Oh, but it would be better if you didn’t join. We both might bad swimmers but that doesn’t make you any less of a menace.”

“All that’s left is the track and field team then,” Momota mused, and they pulled him outside.

 

The first thing he saw was Harukawa rushing past. She was so fast that for a moment, Shuichi wasn’t sure what he saw, but then Chabashira squealed.

“Oh right, Harukawa-san’s on the track team! She’s so cool; look at how fast she is!” She gushed, and Shuichi felt his stomach drop.

“Is it too late to go back to join aikido?” He weakly laughed. It wasn’t a joke. He was so screwed. “Y-You know, I’m not a very strong runner either, so maybe aikido would be better? And doesn’t it help train, um, peace of mind or something?” He could really use that. Anything except being near Harukawa right now.

 

“Tsk, as expected, you’re hopeless just like the rest of them, Saihara-san.” Chabashira looked disgruntled. “If Kaede-san hadn’t asked, I would never allow it.”

Momota frowned. “Are you even the captain-”

“Quiet, degenerate!”

He let out a shaky sigh of relief. Crisis averted? Hopefully he’d survive Chabashira throwing him all year.

 

* * *

**April 22, 201X - 11:35pm**

A familiar scene played out. Saturday night, alarmingly close to midnight, and his door was being knocked on. Though knock was putting it lightly; it was far closer to full out pounding. Shuichi was very tempted to not answer, but the noise didn’t cease. Could he safely assume it was Momota? If it was Ouma again, he’d slam the door shut. Taking some deep breaths, he cracked the door open.

It was Momota. “Hey Saihara!” He pushed against the door expectantly, and he allowed it to be opened further. “So I had this idea...”

 

Training. Nighttime training. At _Tartarus._ Was he being serious? And was Shuichi seriously going to let himself be dragged off to that nightmare of a place _again?_ Clearly, the answer to both of those was yes, because what else would it be. He needed to practice saying no. That was going to the top of his to-do list. Hell, it should’ve been at the top of his list days ago, but he barely had time to breathe with all the dragging around by his new... friends? Could he call them friends yet?

 

“You ready?” Momota grinned as they made their way across the Moonlight Bridge, the lamps above and the passing cars their only light on the near moonless night.

“No,” he answered honestly, his chest tight. They didn’t bring Akamatsu, and so that probably meant they were dying tonight. Why was his life like this? He just wanted to go to school, and not go to school at midnight to fight weird mushy black creatures that could and would kill him.

“That’s the spirit!” Did he hear the no? Was it too late to run away?

 

The sky shifted as they neared the end of the bridge, and in the distance Tartarus erupted from the school, twisting and turning into the sky. It was somehow more impressive to see it from afar. It bore down on them oppressively as they drew ever closer, until they were at its entrance.

“Let’s do this, me and you, the hero and his sidekick!” Momota hyped, pushing him towards the building.

 

 

 

“And what do you think you’re doing?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay but I was glad to find that I wasn't the only one wondering what happens to airplanes during the Dark Hour. Because seriously, that would be a huge problem.


	8. Going Up

Shuichi spun around so fast his head ached. “H-Harukawa-san!” She stood at the school gate with her arms crossed and a steady glare leveled at the two of them. Immediately, shame filled his body.

“Are you trying to get yourselves killed?”

“No?” Momota answered, resting his arm on Shuichi’s shoulder, “We’re just gonna train.” He paused, but as Harukawa was about to go off on them he suddenly continued, “Oh, right! We can fight the Shadows, so you don’t need to worry.” Shuichi couldn’t believe how carefree he was acting when she looked like she was going to murder them.

 

“I doubt that,” she coldly responded, “Come on; we’re leaving.” For a moment, Shuichi felt relieved. Then, the weight on his shoulder increased, keeping him in place.

Momota didn’t move. “Why?”

Harukawa stared, some of the intensity falling off into exasperation. “Are you really this stupid?”

“I’m not! But intelligence has nothing to do with this; how are we supposed to live if we’re fearing for our lives every night?” He had a point, though neither Shuichi nor Harukawa interrupted. “I’ve, we’ve been safe ‘till now, but who knows how long that’ll last. Isn’t it better to be proactive and beef up in case something like that huge one attacks the dorm again?”

 

“So your solution is to rush blindly in and hope for the best, and somehow that’ll result in you getting stronger? Do you even know how to get stronger?”

“Do you?” Shuichi asked, and she paused. An uneasy silence filled the air for a long moment.

“Look,” Momota continued, “We know it’s dangerous. But even if it doesn’t make us stronger, confidence is a powerful thing. I sure don’t wanna have to rely on you babysitting us or whatever.”

 

She sighed. “There’s no talking you out of this, is there? Well, Saihara?”

“Well, what?”

“Are you going in too? I can escort you back, since I figure he dragged you along unwillingly.”

“Hey-!”

Shuichi hesitated. “Um, well, I think he has a point...” He licked his lips nervously. “Plus he’d probably die if he went in alone so...”

“Seriously?!”

 

“Suit yourself.” Harukawa turned to leave, only stopping when Shuichi asked for her to wait. “What?”

“Ah, I was wondering... Why did you come after us? Why are you here in the first place? Wouldn’t it be easier just to leave us be, if you didn’t care?”

“Who said I didn’t care? I told you, I’m in charge of making sure you all don’t die.” She sighed again. “But Chabashira told me she heard you both leaving and something about Tartarus, which concerned me. Who told you about this?”

“Akamatsu-san.” That wasn’t a lie. She provided the name, but... “Momota-kun saw it the other night and asked her what it was.”

 

“And your ability to fight?”

His mind stuttered, trying to spin out another lie. Momota just laughed. “Oh c’mon, do you think this is the first time we’ve snuck out here? Chabashira just happened to catch us this time, that’s all.”

“Prove it.” She held up her hand, and a dark red crossbow appeared. Oh wow. She really was experienced.

“Sure! Just, uh, wait a sec...” Momota finally backed off Shuichi’s shoulder and scrunched his eyebrows, staring at his fists.

He himself looked helplessly at Harukawa. “I’m not going to even try; I know I can’t do it on the spot like that.”

“Confidence! Have confidence in yourself, Saihara!” Momota shouted, still glaring at his hands. While she rolled her eyes, he cursed under his breath as his sword didn’t appear.

 

“I won’t be surprised if you don’t make it back,” Harukawa said, looking ready to leave again. Shuichi panicked internally, terrified both by her staying and leaving.

“W-Would you be willing to stay then? J-Just to watch or- or something, since you’re already here and all...” He was afraid he was going to die on the spot when her glare fixated on him.

“Oh, good idea!” Momota added, finally giving up on creating his sword.

After a long moment, she responded, “Fine, whatever. But if it doesn’t go well, the two of you won’t be allowed to return. Ever.” He quickly nodded in agreement with her terms.

 

The inside of Tartarus was just how he remembered it. He let his eyes reexamine the room regardless, noticing something he glossed over before. A pale green device, similar in color to the one they used to escape. He felt drawn towards it, but Harukawa jerked him away as he strayed towards it.

“Don’t touch it; it’s not useful right now.”

“What is it?”

“For lack of better terms, an elevator. It brings your farther up into the tower, which is the last thing you need right now; the Shadows on higher floors would be deadly to you both.”

 

He was curious as to how high she’d gone, but she abandoned the conversation in favor of climbing up the stairs, forcing him to hurry after to catch up with her and Momota, who was already at the top.

“We ready?” He asked, and when the two of them nodded he ducked into the entrance. They quickly followed.

The first thing he realized when his vision returned was that the hallway further down branched in both directions, whereas before it had only veered to the left. He frowned, wondering if he was misremembering, when Harukawa spoke up.

“You said you’ve climbed before, right? Does that make you think this’ll be easy?”

“Ah, not really. I mean, we only stayed on this floor the first time...” He answered, while Momota laughed.

“Well if we need to escape, the device’ll be easy to find at least.”

Harukawa glared at him. “I knew it. That’s exactly the sort of overconfidence that’ll get you killed. Tartarus is not an ordinary building. The layout of the floors changes every night, so if you tried to go to where you found it last time, I’m certain you’d be met with dead ends.”

 

“W-Well, whatever.” Momota waved off her scolding. “It’s not like we’ll _need_ to run away anyway.” Ignoring what happened last time, he led the two further down the hallway, taking the right instead. It wasn’t long until they spotted their first Shadows of the night, two of the ground ones. They paused, keeping a safe distance as they observed the pair.

“These are Maya Shadows. They’re pretty weak.” Harukawa crossed her arms. “If you can’t beat these, you’ll be useless on higher floors.”

“We’ve got this!” Momota patted Shuichi’s back roughly. He weakly smiled in response, trying to muster up some of the same confidence. Last time, these ones had hurt Momota, but he didn’t let that scare him so Shuichi shouldn’t let it bother him either.

 

Having done it twice already, he found that his gun came a bit more readily than it had before. It still wasn’t the effortlessness that Harukawa had displayed, and it had required some searching for that feeling while looking at the Maya, but it was an improvement from before. He’d done it faster than Momota as well, which made a small bit of pride well up in his chest.

“A gun. Pretty standard.” Harukawa nodded. “Fitting too. It’s probably safe to assume Momota has a sword?” He was surprised that she was able to guess that.

“Yep!” He said, and in his enthusiastic reply it materialized in his hand.

 

They dispatched the two with much more grace than the mess their last battle had dissolved into. He couldn’t say Harukawa was impressed, with how she viewed those as weak ones, but it was a good feeling to win. Momota’s cheering certainly raised his moral.

 

Further down the hall, they found the exit device.

“Huh, that was easy.” Momota scratched his head. “Feels kinda useless right now though.”

Part of him hoped that they’d leave, but another part of him agreed. “Yeah, I suppose so.”

“We should be looking for the stairs up,” Harukawa said, turning away from the device to go back the way they came. As she turned the corner, a Shadow’s screech echoed off the walls. They hurried over in time to see one of the fliers racing away.

“Huh, it ran away again,” Momota commented, and Harukawa turned on him.

“Again?”

 

Sensing a dangerous topic, Shuichi stepped in. “Ah, well, last time one ran away... B-But it was just one, we don’t know why it did that...”

Harukawa opened her mouth, then paused. “Was it golden?”

“Golden?” He had no idea how that was relevant, but he had no other choice but to agree. “Um, m-maybe? It disappeared so fast that I can’t really remember...”

“I see.” She accepted that as an answer for some reason. “Well, let’s continue then.”

 

As they continued on, Shuichi had to ask, “But why did it run away?”

After a few long seconds, she responded, “Shadows are sensitive to our strengths and weaknesses. These ones on the first floors can tell that I’m stronger than them, and they get scared.” That had interesting implications, with how they reacted the same way to Ouma. He kept that revelation to himself, however, as Momota spoke up.

“Well, you should probably hang back then, so we can get some fights in.” He grinned. “Them all running away would kinda defeat the point of this training after all.”

“Alright.” She fell back, letting Momota lead the way again.

 

They found the stairs after a short encounter with a lone Maya. In his eagerness to get to the next floor, Momota took the stairs two at a time, earning a loud sigh from Harukawa as she easily followed. Shuichi resisted groaning as he struggled to keep up with the two of them. As it turned out, going to the next floor was much like it had been to enter: he entered a black space then he was walking out into the hallway, no stairs behind him. He was beginning to understand why Tartarus was so dangerous, Shadows aside. The only way out was those hidden devices.

 

“Hey, c’mere!” Momota gestured him over, peeking around the corner. Shuichi did the same, seeing two new Shadows that looked like... hands?

“Two Hands,” Harukawa stated as if hand was a proper noun, “Well? They’re in the way, go on.”

He hesitated; they were really creepy. Shuichi stared at them, nervousness swelling in his chest. He didn’t know anything about these “Hands”, unlike the Maya and the flying ones. Should he ask Harukawa for information? But what if she decided that meant that they were incompetent? This was frustrating- and Momota was already charging forward, great!

 

He forced his mind off that train of thought to focus on bringing his gun back as Momota sliced the thumb off the closer Shadow. Its companion flipped over, hovering in the air as it snapped its fingers. Ice enclosed Momota’s leg, locking him in place.

“Shit! Fuck!” He cursed, lashing out with his sword in panic. Shuichi rushed out from behind the corner to help, firing two poorly aimed shots at the undamaged one’s fingers.

“C-Calm down Momota-kun,” he said, and when Momota’s wild slashing stopped he gave the chunk of ice a solid kick with the bottom of his foot. It cracked.

“Ow! Careful, Saihara!”

“S-Sorry.” He felt bad, but at least it had helped; Momota’s foot was free, and he used his new freedom to get revenge on the Hand that trapped him, slicing off some of its fingers and causing it to fall over. The other one attempted to bum-rush them, only to be met with panicked shots from Shuichi’s gun.

 

It wasn’t an elegant victory, but it was a victory nonetheless. Harukawa even looked slightly impressed as she walked over.

“Not bad. Quick thinking with the ice, Saihara.”

As if spurred on by her words, Momota gave him a pat on the back. “Yeah, great job! Keep it up, Saihara, and we’ll be unstoppable!” He couldn’t decide if he was proud of himself or intimidated by the pressure now on him. Probably both.

 

They walked. Fought some more Mayas. Walked some more. Climbed. Fought a few fliers, which Harukawa finally identified as “Tiaras” - probably from their crown head. He accepted the name and continued on, though starting to feel significantly worn out. By the time they found the stairs to the 5th floor, his mind felt like it was rattling in his head, and he had to sit down.

“Saihara, you alright?” Momota’s voice raised in concern, and he put his free hand on Shuichi’s shoulder.

“Shouldn’t we be looking for the exit device? I, I think we’ve climbed enough...”

“But the stairs are right here! One more floor, we’ll find the device on the next floor and leave, I promise.”

He frowned, but agreed. Harukawa stayed silent, but she didn’t linger as far behind as she had earlier as they walked up the stairs.

 

To his relief, the first thing he saw once his vision returned was the soft green glow of an exit device, down the hall right in front of them. It was bigger than the one they used last time, but it still looked similar enough that he assumed it was the same.

“There it is, let’s go,” He said, hoping it didn’t come out too much like a beg. Momota frowned, but he didn’t argue as they made their way over to it. When they were in the intersection right in front of it, a screech echoed down the perpendicular hallway. In his curiosity, Shuichi made the mistake of pausing to look towards it.

 

Three large birds sat further down, their mask faces locked on Shuichi and his group. None of them moved, until Momota took a step in their direction. Only then did one rise from its flock, its large wings creating a gust of wind that traveled down towards them.

“Don’t you dare,” Harukawa hissed, grabbing Momota and Shuichi roughly by the arm and shoving them towards the exit. Unlike the previous one they used, it didn’t activate immediately, requiring some sort of input as she poked at something on the device.

 

And then, they were back in the lobby.

 

“Alright, out, it’s almost been an hour.” Harukawa shooed them out of Tartarus, and though Momota looked like he wanted to complain he remained silent.

Shuichi also kept silent until they were back on the bridge heading home. “So, um, I have a lot of questions...” She glanced at him in acknowledgement, so he continued. “The birds-?”

“I think they guard the floor. I just ran past them last time I climbed.” Any other time he would’ve questioned that, but after seeing her run the other day... Yeah, that seemed right.

 

“So, did we do great or what?” Momota interrupted, giving them a thumbs up. “Great training session.”

“Well, aside from you getting your pant leg caught on fire...” Shuichi started, earning him a loud “Listen!” in objection.

“It wasn’t too bad.” Harukawa paused, causing the other two to stop as well. “But I don’t think I can let you two go by yourselves.”

“Why?” Momota asked, frowning.

“You’re reckless, for one, and you didn’t listen to Saihara or your own body when it was time to stop. Fighting Shadows is draining when you first start out; like any type of training, you need to pace yourself.”

 

“I see. You’re right,” Momota sighed, “Sorry Saihara.”

“Ah, um, it’s fine. But Harukawa-san, how could you tell he was tired?”

She brushed her hair over her shoulder. “His sword was flickering. When you start to run out of energy, it does that. Pushing yourself when you’ve reached that point is... bad, to put it lightly.”

A tinge of curiosity tugged at his heart. “Bad? How so?”

She gave them both a long look before responding. “Your weapons draw their energy from your psyche. If you don’t control yourselves-” Her look turned into a deadly glare.

 

“You’ll be setting yourself up for a mental breakdown.”


	9. Psyche

**April 24, 201X - 6:55pm**

“The psyche - by textbook definition - is one’s soul or mind. The origin of the word is Latin, which itself originates from the Ancient Greek word for soul. In mythology, Psyche was a mortal who became the goddess of the soul and the wife of-”

“How is any of that relevant to Saihara’s question?” Momota grumbled, interrupting Shinguuji’s lecture. He earned himself a collection of stern looks in response.

“Momota-kun, it’s really fine...”

“Knowing more than the bare necessities is what makes a well-rounded individual, Momota-kun. I suggest you learn to hold your tongue and be patient.” Shinguuji shook his head. “But I shall skip to the relevant part, though if you wish to hear more later, Saihara-kun, I’d be more than happy to oblige.”

“Ah, thanks?”

 

They had approached Shinguuji at dinner in hopes of learning more about the Dark Hour and its inner workings, since their late night excursion was no longer a secret to the two older members of the dorm. This had spurred an impromptu meeting as the others drifted in for dinner.

“In regards to the Dark Hour, one’s psyche plays a crucial part; it is the source of the ability to fight Shadow, so I suppose you could call your weapons, Psyche Weapons - though I admit the name is a bit tacky.” A bit, but it was still fitting, so Shuichi remained silent. “Harukawa-san has vouched for repeated encounters with Shadows and strain - but not destruction - of the psyche to steadily build the stamina required to fight longer and with more power.”

“So I was right on the money with my training then,” Momota mused, and Shinguuji nodded.

 

“That’s bad news for me though,” Akamatsu sighed, “I only use energy by healing injuries, but the purpose of this is to avoid getting hurt.”

“Hey, don’t worry. It’ll all work out.” Momota flashed her a grin, and she gave a small smile back.

“Thanks.”

“For once, I agree with him. Besides, healing’s not the only thing you’re good at, Akamatsu,” Harukawa said, “Since these idiots are insistent on continuing to go, I feel it’d be best if you watched out for them, as a team leader of sorts.”

“Hey, wait-” Momota began to object, but was cut short by a sharp jab of the elbow from Chabashira.

“That’s great, Kaede-san! Tenko knows you’ll be a far better leader than these degenerates. Although-” She glared at them, her eyes full of suspicion. “Tenko wishes she could come with you to make sure they don’t try anything...”

 

“I think with half the dorm going, we already have enough idiots risking their lives,” Harukawa sighed, “Plus, don’t think I haven’t noticed you’re favoring your left arm; you haven’t been letting your right heal properly, have you?”

Chabashira flinched, reaching to touch her shoulder before snapping her arm back down. “Even so... Grrr...”

“Don’t worry, Tenko-san, I’ll be fine.” Akamastu gave her a warm smile. “I appreciate the thought though.”

“If we could return to the topic at hand-” Shinguuji interrupted, “I believe it to be best to set some guidelines if exploration of Tartarus is to become a norm.” At the agreement of everyone, he continued. “First, the three of you must go together and stay together. Second, do not allow yourselves to fall behind in your studies; school should hold priority over the exploration. Also, it would certainly be unwise to go two days in a row, as frequent trips in general could negatively impact your health.”

“Harukawa-san mentioned that, yes. Mental breakdown?” Shuichi fingered the brim of his cap.

 

Shinguuji sighed. “Overdramatic much?”

“It’s a serious threat. I don’t sugarcoat things.”

“Let me clarify this hyperbole, then. As I explained, your psyche fuels your weapons, and as such, it pulls from your sense of self. Too much export of the self, theoretically, could result in a loss of one’s concept of themselves and the world around them.”

“A mental breakdown,” Harukawa summarized, drawing another irate sigh from him.

“Perhaps that’s the best term, but please allow me to continue. The part that truly requires clarifying is that this is not an immediate threat. Rather, this is a result of a deterioration of the psyche over time. That is precisely why caution must be exercised. Thankfully, there are signs to show you’re overdoing it; as the mind and body are linked, you may feel lethargic, perhaps even sick, like a cold. If this begins to occur, I would cease going for a week to recover.”

 

No one spoke, taking in his warning and advice. Dinner continued in silence, the only words between the group happening as they began to separate for the night. Shuichi felt uneasy, hanging back until only he and Shinguuji remained.

“I remember Harukawa-san saying that people normally turn into the coffins, right?” When he received a nod, he continued, “So why not us? What makes us special, aside from being able to fight them? I mean, it’d be better if we were like everyone else; we’d be safe in there, right?”

“I’m not certain. Perhaps our psyches are more powerful than the average person, perhaps there’s some other factor that we are simply unaware of. However, I don’t believe the coffins to be equivalent to safety.”

“Oh?”

“I have little grounds for my theory, but regardless, I suspect there to be some relation between Apathy Syndrome and the Dark Hour.” That was certainly an interesting thought. “I shall keep you all informed if I discover more on the matter.”

 

* * *

**April 26th - 3:20pm**

“First things first!” Chabashira yelled as she approached him, causing him to flinch back. Don’t flip him, please don’t- “The last thing we need is your filthy male pervert hat tainting the sacred practice of Aikido! So remove it immediately!”

“Huh?” He pulled his hat down further, uncomfortable. “How does that-”

“Ah! Tenko knew it! She warned Kaede-san, and while she insisted that you were safe, Tenko knows a disgusting degenerate when she sees one!”

Something in him told him that this was the time he should be practicing saying “No”. He immediately squashed that thought; if he were braver, perhaps that would be an option he could chose, but that wasn’t the case. Slowly, he removed his hat, fixing his eyes on the ground as he did so.

 

“S-Sorry, um, it’s off?” Egh, he could just imagine how much his hair was sticking up. He brought a hand to his head in attempt to comb it down.

“Tenko supposes that’s better. Remember, this is a no-hat, no-degenerate zone!” Well, that second part was already violated. Once glance around the room would show other men aside from himself. In fact, said others were looking at him with a mixture of amusement and pity.

“I-I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Do that! Now then, let’s start with the basics!”

 

Shuichi would never call himself an athlete. That much was more than obvious if you took one look at him. He’d much rather join a club that gave him a mental workout rather than a physical one. It was too late for that now though. At least Chabashira wasn’t throwing him; apparently, with their “imminent threat to Kaede-san”, she had taken Harukawa’s scolding to heart and decided to rest her injured arm. That didn’t stop her from being intimidating, however.

“Your stance is all wrong! And straighten your back, raise your head! Aikido can’t be practiced with your eyes glued to the ground!”

“I, I know that...” It was hard to keep his eyes from drifting downward; he felt too uncomfortable without his hat to block out the _eyes._ His skin itched, as if the entire school was watching him fail at following basic directions.

 

This continued for a long hour, until he felt sore and sweaty, stressed and anxious. Chabashira finally allowed him to stop, with the promise of more to come at his next lesson. He wasn’t looking forward to it in the slightest.

“You look horrible, Saihara-kun,” Akamatsu said as they left the school together, her having just finished her club- ah, speaking of which...

“Yeah, practice was rough. By the way... What club are you in?”

She flushed. “Ah, well, actually... I’m not really in a club. It’s really hard to pull myself away from the piano long enough to focus on homework and studying let alone dedicating so much time to an extracurricular.” She ended with a small self-deprecating laugh.

“Ah... Then why were you here so late?”

 

“I help out with the student council sometimes; Toujou-senpai works so hard to keep everything organized that when I see her cleaning up after the lazier students, I feel bad.” Shuichi paused, trying to recall Toujou. He hadn’t really seen her around, but she was their senpai, so that was probably normal.

“I see. If you help out though, I think that makes you at least an honorary member.”

“Maybe.” She gave him a small smile. “Thanks.”

“For what?”

“For trying to cheer me up. Also, I bet Tenko-san gave you a lot of trouble, so thanks for being patient with her. I’ve been trying to show her that men aren’t bad, but... Well, it’s a long work in progress.” Long was certainly an understatement; her irrational anger and distrust would be hard to change, with how deeply she seemed to believe it.

 

Still, they could hope.

 

* * *

**April 29th, 201X - 9:09pm**

It was only the return to his room that changed the day from an ordinary one to one more significant. As he walked into the room, ready to study, a piece of paper crumbled underfoot. Shuichi frowned; he hadn’t left anything on the ground, much less near the entrance. The only conclusion he could draw as he reached to pick it up was that someone had slipped a note under his door. The fact that that was the correct assumption became clear as he began to read the note.

 

_May 7th, floor 15, see you there!_


	10. Flight

**April 30, 201X - 12:35pm**

Shuichi gathered Momota and Akamatsu on the second floor as soon as he could get them both alone. “I think we should go to Tartarus tonight.”

They both looked surprised at his suggestion, but not upset. “Sure, yeah, that’s cool,” Momota responded, “I was thinkin’ about bringing up going again soon anyway.”

“I’m okay with it as well, but I’m surprised to hear you asking this. Something come up?” Akamatsu was perceptive. That didn’t bother him, though; he planned on telling them anyway.

“I found this in my room last night; I’m pretty sure it’s from Ouma-kun.” He handed them the note.

 

Momota’s brows furrowed. “So we have seven days to get strong enough to climb that high?”

Shuichi nodded. “Sounds like it.”

“Hmm...” Akamatsu crossed her arms. “I don’t have a problem with trying, but I don’t know if it’ll happen.”

“Well, let’s try,” Momota said, “We go tonight, climb a bit, then try again maybe on Wednesday? It’ll be Golden Week, so if we wear ourselves out it won’t be too bad.”

She nodded in agreement. “As long as you both don’t push yourself too much tonight, Wednesday’ll definitely work.”

 

They discussed their plan for Tartarus further for another hour before separating. Shuichi felt nervous about what Ouma wanted, but since he wouldn’t answer his texts and would likely dodge his in-person questions, he’d have to wait and see what the 7th brought. To take his mind off it, he headed out to Paulownia Mall to get some coffee and wind down. Window shopping alone just wasn’t fun or interesting, however, and he quickly wished that he’d thought to invite one of the others.

 

Not to mention, there were quite a few Apathy Syndrome sufferers loitering about.

 

Night fell and he grew bored of answering trivia questions on one of the games in the arcade. Shoving his ticket voucher into his coat, he headed back to the dorms to prepare for the night to come.

 

“So,” Momota said once they’d entered Tartarus, “Harukawa said we could use this, yeah?” He walked over to the green device, followed closely by Akamatsu and Shuichi.

“Right. Let’s see...” He pressed a button on the display, prompting a menu to appear. Floor numbers appeared; 1, 5, 10, and 14. They were already on the first floor, and 5 was the one they’d left. The other two, though...

“Harukawa-san must’ve activated those,” Akamatsu answered when he asked. “We should just go to 5; we don’t want to get in over our heads.”

“Right, right.” Momota thumbed Floor 5, and the machine activated.

 

The birds were still there.

 

“To be honest, I’m a little scared,” Akamatsu confessed, “Last time- well, when I came with Harukawa-san for the first time, they caught me when we tried to run past them. It was the first time a Shadow hurt me, so it was... really startling.” His chest swelled with empathy, and even Momota’s intense determination softened as he turned to her.

“Hey, it’s gonna be alright. We might not be as skilled as Harukawa, but we’ve got each other, and I’d say we’re a good team so far.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” she agreed after a long moment, nodding firmly, “Alright, I’m ready. Stay close to me; they attack using giant bursts of wind from their wings.”

 

Shuichi took note as they got closer that it was essentially a three versus three fight. Unlike with the Shadows on the lower floors, he could tell these... Eagles were equals with them. They carried themselves with confidence and grace, unflinching as they were approached. It was only once Momota materialized his sword did they react, raising themselves off the ground to meet them for battle. Shuichi huddled into his companions as the burst of air from the movement rushed past them. He was shaking, but his friends were too, and knowing that gave him the ability to raise his gun up and fire the first shot.

 

It was a rough fight, especially once the avian Shadows appeared to realize they weren’t getting blown away from their gusts of wind and swooped down to graze them with their talons. Only Momota’s blade and reactionary shots from Shuichi stopped them from being completely overwhelmed. When the first finally fell, he could feel the moral spike as Momota released a relieved laugh and Akamatsu lightheartedly had to restrain him from celebrating too soon in favor of closing a jagged scratch on his forearm.

 

When the second finally fell and Shuichi felt as if he were beginning to get worn out, they finally broke formation, the last Eagle too drained to continue flying. It hissed and shrieked, flapping its wings in an intimidation attempt as Momota approached much like an executor. He thrust his sword into its chest, and it dissolved, leaving the 5th floor empty at last.

“Phew, that was rough,” Momota said, letting his weapon fade away as he sat down to rest. Shuichi and Akamatsu joined him, the latter checking them over for injuries she might’ve missed. He had to admit, he was a little jealous of her; she wasn’t nearly as worn out by healing as they were by fighting. Or maybe she just had more stamina. Either way, he hoped that they wouldn’t climb too much tonight.

 

After that short break they moved on to the next floor. As they roamed the dark halls, they made light conversation to ward off the tiredness they were beginning to feel.

“So if we can, we should try to get to floor 10 tonight,” Momota said, “We could just skip straight there if we don’t, but who knows what sorta Shadows lurk up there. A preview like last time would be good to prepare, yeah?”

“That’s a good plan,” Shuichi agreed, “Though let’s not fight too much more, please. I only think I’ll be good for a little bit longer.”

“But of course! You let us know when, alright? If it gets too much, I’ll take on the brute of the work; can’t let my sidekick overwork himself!”

 

Akamatsu shook her head good-naturedly, but agreed with his main message. He felt good. When he first met them, he never imagined they’d grow close to him so fast. Maybe their extrovertedness was just what he needed.

 

* * *

They made it up to the 10th floor, somehow. Barely, struggling, running more than fighting. His chest hurt from all the fleeing they did. The Shadows on the past few floors were clearly stronger than the first few floors; weird cupid-like Shadows shot arrows at them from afar and the occasional giant beetle that appeared impossible to damage. It was terrifying, especially when the Cupids’ attacks hit and they were forced into warding them off until whoever was injured was good to run again. The only comfort was that the Shadows never chased them upstairs. Regardless, any confidence from earlier was quickly drained by the clear increase in difficulty. He was beyond glad that they didn’t skip up to 10 or 14 and learn that the hard way.

 

Their reward for their perseverance, that sneak peek, was a trio of Hands. They were different from the ones they’d encountered before; they were a soft pink, and each wore a diamond ring. Compared to the Eagles, they were much less intimidating, but Shuichi had learned not to let appearances fool him. He still remembered the other ones encasing Momota’s leg in ice.

The three Hands showed no interest in them, appealing to Shuichi’s curiosity more and more. How close could he get before they decided they were a threat? Was it distance or weapons that initiated a fight with these particular Shadows? What was different between these floors with the big devices and the other “normal” ones? The questions grew more and more in his mind even as they left for the night and returned to the dorm.

 

Surprisingly, he didn’t feel as tired as he thought he would the next morning. Sure, he was exhausted, but it was nowhere near as close to the first time they’d gone and he felt as if he could barely function the next day. It was still possible to concentrate in class after a night of climbing Tartarus, which made him feel better about doing it on a school night. That feeling of wellness was the start to a series of bad decisions.

 

“Let’s go tomorrow night,” Momota said as soon as classes ended, “I know we were gonna wait until Wednesday, but at this rate, we’re not gonna be strong enough to get any higher.”

“I don’t know...” Akamatsu bit her lip. “Last night was rough.”

“But I’m sure by tomorrow, we’ll be back to normal! Besides, I’m not lookin’ to fight those Hands, just some of the other new ones. We were already pretty tired when we started seeing ‘em, so it’ll be better when we try again, right?” It was hard to disagree when Momota’s enthusiasm was so contagious. Once Shuichi agreed it’d be good to go, Akamatsu caved, and round 2 with the floors above 5 began.

 

The first thing he noticed upon climbing up to the 6th floor was that he was alone. He paused, waiting for them to join him. But after a minute pass, and he remembered that he was the last person to reach the top of the stairs, he began to worry. Where were they? Should he look for them? Nervously, he inched out of the dead end he’d been waiting in.

“Akamatsu-san? Momota-kun?” He called out, but there was no response. His heart hammered in his chest. On such high alert, he wasn’t taken by surprise when a Cupid flew around the corner to greet him. He dispatched of it with two shaky shots, before continuing on, calling out to his friends again. Still no response.

 

The only noise was a steady rattling of chains that unsettled him to his core.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Flight: to fly; to flee; a series of stairs_
> 
> We're finally in May! and it only took two months and 10 chapters,, Thanks for sticking with me, I'm excited to get to the first real Full Moon soon!


	11. Night Fright

With no choice but to continue searching, Shuichi wandered the halls, glad that the only Shadows he encountered were by themselves. It wasn’t long until he happened upon the stairs, which he paused in front of uncertainty. Did they already advance to the next floor? If they had, they’d be waiting for him, and if he didn’t meet them up there, he’d be holding them up. Why did this happen? Did he mess up somehow?

 

Beginning to feel uncomfortable, he shifted, torn between waiting, going up, or searching the halls further. Before his indecisiveness tore him apart, a voice broke through his thoughts.

“Oh, Saihara-kun!” Akamatsu rejoined him, and the crushing pressure hanging above him lessened.

“Akamatsu-san,” he breathed out in relief, pinching the brim of his hat to hide some of his remaining nervousness, “Where’s Momota-kun?”

As she moved closer into the better lit part of the small room, he could see the same anxiety he felt across her face. “I don’t know, he just- Both of you were gone when I got up here and, and I don’t know where he is.” She fidgeted with a torn spot in her sleeve, and internally Shuichi winced; he’d been so wrapped up in his worries that he’d barely considered how she’d been fairing with no way to defend herself.

 

He squashed his anxiety down further. “It’s alright, I’m sure he’ll show up soon. He wouldn’t leave us.” His words comforted himself as well as her.

She took a deep breath. “Right. Of course. You’re right.” She glanced over to the entryway, biting her lip. In the distance, the rattling continued to echo off the walls. The silence surrounding that sole noise made him uneasy enough that he began to speak again.

“Should we, should we go look for him?”

“We might miss him if we move. Let’s wait-”

 

A blast tore through the air, followed by a distinctly Momota shout of profanities. Without pausing to look at each other, they took off in the direction of the yell. As they approached the source, the hallway was ablaze with fire. Almost immediately, Shuichi could feel himself sweating in the smoldering heat. They danced around the flames, calling out to their third member in worry.

“Shit, no, fuck, stay where you are!” Momota called back, a pained edge to his voice that only solidified their determination to reach him.

 

He soon regretted not heeding his warning.

 

He wasn’t sure what he noticed first. The most obvious choice would be the twin revolvers it carried, with barrels as long as his arm. Or perhaps the chains draped over its shoulders in an X, ringing out with every slight movement. But Shuichi’s attention landed squarely on its eyes- or rather,  _ eye, _ beady and white and staring right at him and through him and he couldn’t breathe-  _ It was aiming right at him-! _

 

The air cracked. The little breath he had in him was knocked out as Akamatsu rammed into him, both of them only just missing the shot this, this, was it even a Shadow?! The space next to them rippled from the sheer force the bullet was shot with, and the gruesome thought of what if rose to mind.

“Shit, move, move!” Momota darted over toward them, yanking them off the ground by their arms, pushing Shuichi forward and dragging Akamatsu along with him as he ran. He stumbled, jerking back to avoid the fire before running after them. In front of him, Akamatsu yelled directions to the stairs in Momota’s ear; behind him, the chains violently shook and the flames roared.

 

He’d never climbed stairs so fast in his entire life. Halfway up, curiosity nipped at him to glance back, but he didn’t. The pure terror in his veins won out until the last step, where he dared to look down to the base. It stared up at him with its one eye, guns aimed downward. It didn’t pursue them up; it just hovered at the bottom, as if daring them to climb back down. He swallowed nervously and left it behind, taking the last step onto the next floor.

 

There, Momota and Akamatsu were already resting on the ground, her hands wrapped around a nasty burn on his right arm. Her face was contorted with effort, his with pain from both the burn itself and how hard she was squeezing it. He silently joined them, sitting closer than necessary out of desire for comfort. Neither of them objected, though from the shellshocked look in their eyes it wasn’t yet possible for thoughts or words to form.

 

“I-” Akamatsu finally choked out, releasing his arm. “I don’t, I don’t know if I can do any more.” The patch was still an angry red, but Momota only nodded numbly at her admission of defeat and stood.

“It’s okay.” His words sounded hollow. “Let’s just get movin’, alright?” He extended his left hand to help pull her up, then looked to Shuichi with blank expectancy. He couldn’t muster up the energy to do anything aside from stand himself. He faintly remembered the bright mood they’d had when they came in; that now felt like hours ago.

 

He pulled the brim of his cap down.

 

* * *

**May 3, 201X - 9:03am**

“Shit,” Momota hissed, visibly flinching as he lathered his arm with burn cream. Shuichi, who had been sitting at his side sketching, glanced at him. They’d made it out in one piece shortly after their escape, but the terror was still clear as day in his mind. A crude drawing of the Shadow(?) that had attacked them was the result of his inability to stop thinking about what had happened. “Damn, this is such a fucking mess.”

“Yeah,” he sighed, “Want me to go get some painkillers?”

“Nah, it’s fine.” He wiped his hand onto his pants and grabbed the roll of bandages, beginning to wrap it carefully around his arm. “It’s just- fuck, how am I gonna explain this to my grandparents? And we still gotta go tomorrow or Friday if we’re gonna make it by Sunday.”

 

“Make it where?” Shuichi’s breath caught in his throat as Harukawa’s voice cut into their conversation.

“Ah, well,” he stuttered, trying to think of an excuse. Lying the first time had been hard enough. “We, um, set a challenge for ourselves..? To, to climb Tartarus faster?” Or something. God, that was a horrible lie. He clenched his fists to stop them from shaking.

“Uh, yeah, what Saihara said,” Momota contributed very helpfully.

She raised an eyebrow at his excuse. “If you think I buy that, you’re wrong.” Her eyes flickered over Momota’s wound and Shuichi’s drawing, but she made no comments. She instead settled her sharp glare on Shuichi, and if he wasn’t already struggling to breathe, he surely would be now.

 

He bit his lip. “W-Well, that’s mostly the truth?” He sighed, defeated. “I got this note, see, um... wait, wait here?” Under her scrutinizing gaze, he hurried to and from his room, bringing Ouma’s note down to her. He was very glad in that moment that he didn’t sign it. He didn’t meet her eyes as he passed it to her. “I, um, was curious about it, so- so we decided to try to-”

He was cut off by Harukawa crumbling the note in her hand. “Forget it. It’s nothing worth rushing yourselves over.”

“Ah, but-”

“It’s not important. In fact-” She fixed the both of them with a stern glare. “There’ll be no Tartarus exploration on the 7th at all.”

“Huh? Why?!”

“If you can’t see this is a trap then you’re fooling yourselves.”

 

She ended the conversation forcefully by turning away to storm out of the room and back upstairs. When it was clear she wasn’t stopping, Momota gave up trying to call her back and sighed.

“Well, damn. Maybe she’s right, though; Ouma’s been nothing but trouble so far.”

Wordlessly, Shuichi pulled out his phone, ignoring Momota.

 

[9:16am] Shuichi: Harukawa-san found out. 6th instead.

 

After the text was sent, he finally responded, “Sorry, Momota-kun, but I’m going to go. He knows a lot more than we do, that much is clear, and while he is trouble he doesn’t... he doesn’t seem to do things like this just because. Last time he had a reason, so there must be something he wants with us. So...” He flipped his phone around to silently show him the text; Momota frowned for a moment, looking up to meet Shuichi’s determined eyes before scratching the back of his head.

“Yeah, alright. I’ll let Akamatsu know. So tomorrow and then...” He trailed off, and Shuichi nodded.

 

* * *

**May 6th, 201X - Dark Hour**

Saturday night came before they were entirely ready. Climbing with the horror of Tuesday night breathing down their necks was stressful, though that paranoia kept them together and efficient in dispatching the Shadows as they pushed past the 10th floor and onto what laid beyond. That had been Thursday, and they’d stopped once they reached 14 and the checkpoint it provided.

 

There was a good pattern in the flow of their climb that Shuichi took comfort in.

 

A strange thought arose in his mind as they walked into Tartarus right as the Dark Hour set in. They were supposed to meet Ouma, but if they arrived first, then wouldn’t they bump into him if they waited in the lobby? As he started to bring his hand to his mouth in deepening thought, he got his answer as something moved in the corner of his vision. Ouma ducked past them with a wave, pressing the panel to - presumably - go up to 14. The collective sigh that they released in that moment made Shuichi second-guess his decision. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about him showing up or not anymore.

 

Their arrival on the 14th floor was met with a loud crash. Preparing themselves mentally, they rounded the corner in time to see Ouma slipping by the Shadow and disappearing off into an opening further down. The Shadow, which Shuichi could only describe as a machine with long straight spears in place of arms and legs for wheels, spun around as its target vanished, the tips of its spears grazing the walls with a loud screech as it did so. It was huge, easily twice their height, so Shuichi wasn’t completely surprised that Ouma was able to slip by. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t have the same luck.

 

One electrifying battle later - literally, since the Shadow discharged electrical shots when they were too far away for it to ram into them - they ran past it as it fell into a pile of sludge, worn out but eager to get to the next floor. At the top of the stairs, Ouma sat waiting, though he sprung up and into the next floor before any of them could speak.

 

“Here we are, floor 15!” He greeted them once they caught up, a wide grin on his face. Shuichi opened his mouth to ask a, well, to ask lots of questions, but was cut off. “Oh, but what we really want is to get to 16, so lead the way!” He sighed, and glanced towards his team members. Momota rolled his eyes while Akamatsu gave him a small smile and shrug.

The floor was surprisingly short. They ran into a few of the humanoid ones attached to poles in pairs, but their bolts of electricity were nothing compared to the Shadow on the previous floor, and Momota and he quickly disposed of them while Ouma watched. They reached the stairs almost immediately after.

 

A strange sight greeted them on the 16th floor. Instead of a normal floor, or a checkmark floor, it was just an empty platform. All that it held were stairs up, and a small device to go back down. The stairs were surrounded with desks and a green light.

“So, uh, what is this?” Shuichi got the strong impression that the thing surrounding the stairs was what Ouma wanted to show them.

“Dunno! Some sort of barrier, I guess. It’s been here for a looooong time. Which sucks, because I wanna see what’s beyond it.”

 

Momota approached it, peering at it before pressing his right hand up against it. It stayed solid under his hand, thankfully not a threat like most of the tower. He doubted Ouma would let them attempt to touch it if it was extremely deadly. Probably.

Speaking of deadly though... “I actually wanted to ask you something, Ouma-kun.”

“Huh? A question for me?” He grinned. “Saihara-chan’s thirst for knowledge is never satisfied!”

He ignored the teasing and pulled out the drawing he made. “Do you know what this is?”

 

The grin settled back into a more neutral expression as Ouma looked at it. “No. Where did you see it?”

“6th floor, Tuesday. Why?”

He hummed, folding the paper back up and slipping it into his pocket. “Just curious. Is this why Momota-chan’s arm is wrapped up? I don’t think you’d ask if you thought it was normal.” At the mention of his injury, Momota lowered his arm and pulled his sleeve back over the bandage defensively.

Shuichi hesitated, so Akamatsu stepped in. “You better not go looking for it, Ouma-kun. It’s really powerful. I- I don’t know what I’d have done if it hit either of them worse than it hit Momota-kun; I already could barely heal that burn...”

 

Ouma gave them a wide smile. “Don’t worry! I won’t!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Three days until Full Moon_


	12. Presto agitato

**May 9, 201X - Dark Hour**

A steady knock broke him out of his late night thoughts. Shuichi rose from his bed, grabbing his jacket off the floor before answering the door.

“Hey, Saihara-kun...” Akamatsu greeted him, looking nervous. “I’m sorry to spring this on you all of a sudden, but could you come with me?”

“Sure, where?”

“Just upstairs, I already sent Momota-kun up.” She bit her lip. “It’s Harukawa-san. I think she’s going out tonight, but on her own, you know? So I was thinking that maybe you both could help me convince her to take us along?”

“Ah, I can try...” He didn't voice his doubts as he followed her up to the conference room.

 

He opened the door to Momota already making their case. “-more effective with a good team, and-” As they closed the door, his eyes flickered over to them and he paused. “Hey, just in time. Alright Saihara, present the evidence!”

“What evidence..? Anyway, um, so what's going on?” The first thing his eyes were drawn to was the radar displayed on a blocky device, running despite the electronics around them being shut down. He approached it. “What's this?”

“A Shadow radar. I have some... connections, and they built that a while back to help me look out for abnormal Shadows. Like the one from last month, on the roof.” She sighed. “This is a waste of time though. I need to get going.” She plucked it off the table and pushed past Shuichi. He stumbled back, and Momota boldly blocked the door.

 

“And if you need to be going, wouldn't it be easier to just let us come? It's a win-win for everyone.”

She glared daggers into him. “You'll just get wiped again, and I'm not interested in carrying back two unconscious bodies.”

A logical switch in Shuichi’s mind flipped, and a rebuttal came tumbling out of his mouth. “It's not fair to judge our survival chance on what happened before either of us awoke to our powers. We’ve- We’ve gotten a lot better at fighting, and we know when to pull back if we’re in over our heads. So-”

“Fine.” Harukawa must’ve seen she was getting nowhere and relented, though still looking displeased even as Momota moved aside. “Just don’t get in the way and listen to my orders.”

“Yeah, of course,” Akamatsu answered before Momota could, looking relieved.

 

But Shuichi had to ask... “So what exactly are you, er, we going to fight?”

Harukawa jerked her head to direct them out, explaining as they walked down and out of the dorm. “It’s likely another big Shadow like the one that attacked the dorm. I had Shinguuji look over the data with me a few minutes into the Dark Hour, and he agreed that the signature was a lot like that one’s.” They weaved through the coffin-filled streets towards the station. Shuichi felt nervous. Not that that was new, but it still itched in the back of his mind as he thought about what was to come. What _was_ to come? He tried to picture a big Shadow, but all that came to mind was the horrifyingly powerful one. He wondered if Momota was thinking about it too; he was scratching at his arm frequently as they walked.

 

His thoughts were soon revealed as he began to speak. “It’s a full moon again, huh?” Shuichi looked up; the green moon was gigantic and full. He felt small beneath it.

“Huh, you’re right,” Akamatsu said, “At least that makes it easier to see.” Bright, but not any less creepy.

“Yeah, be really shitty if we needed flashlights. Good thing the Dark Hour comes with its own glow.” Momota’s joke fell flat, and he sighed, letting the silence fall upon the group again.

 

When they reached the station, the three of them that weren’t Harukawa paused, uncertain as to where they were heading with no train to board.

“The monorail’s stopped; we’re going to walk along the tracks.”

“Why? Isn’t that, uh, dangerous?” Shuichi meekly asked, his confidence from earlier drained by his anxiety.

“Not really. Just watch your step.” Harukawa took the lead, holding her crossbow in one hand and the radar in the other. The other two kept pace with her, while Shuichi fell back as they climbed up to the tracks. He wasn’t afraid of heights at all, but as they inched further from the station and above the open water, he felt his stomach begin to twist. He was a little jealous that the other three showed no problem with it.

 

They reached the end of the monorail without event, and as she forced the door open, she spoke down to them. “This is mostly for you, Saihara, but be careful when you’re fighting in close quarters like we’re about to enter. You don’t want to accidentally hit each other; if you think fighting Shadows is draining, friendly fire is easily ten times worse.”

“Ah, okay...” As if he needed something else to worry about.

As if sensing his plummeting moral, Momota chimed in. “Ha! There’s no need to worry, Saihara’s aim’s real good!” At any other time, the pat that followed his encouragement would’ve been welcome, but being unintentionally pushed around while standing (somewhat) near the edge of the platform made him flinch. Harukawa sighed in response to his declaration, hopping back down.

 

“Alright, it’s open. Now, before we go in, we should-” Whatever she was about to say was cut off by a flash of light from the corner of his vision. **Fire.** Two Tiaras hovered at a distance, slightly different in color than the ones they’d seen before.

Harukawa’s expression grew dark. “Get on the monorail; I’ll dispatch of these.” None of them were about to complain; their newly gained aversion to fire was stronger than their desire to help defeat them. They climbed up one at a time, Momota followed by Shuichi followed by Akamatsu. When she reached the interior and they mistakenly relaxed, the door they entered slammed shut. Harukawa barely had time to turn at the sound before the monorail began to move. It was moving. Why? Why was it moving?!

 

“Oh my god,” Momota began unsteadily, “Uhh... What’s, what’s goin’ on?” Shuichi darted to the back to peer out the window; Harukawa had defeated the Tiaras and was running alongside the monorail.

“Get to the front,” she shouted up at him once she noticed him looking, “The Shadow must be behind this.”

“Okay,” he responded, though probably not loud enough that she could hear him. Oh well. He conveyed her message to his teammates, and they took off.

“Looks like you’re in charge again, Akamatsu,” Momota said as they ran, slicing an unsuspecting Hand in half, “Let’s prove to Harukawa that we can hold our own!”

“Right,” she shakingly responded, “Just say close, alright?” Shuichi hoped they were close to the front; his chest hurt from the stress and from running.

 

After a few cars and a handful of ambushes by unfamiliar Shadows, the tension from the monorail moving was high; how long until they crashed? Shuichi could barely breathe. The thought of crashing was terrifying, not only for the consequences it would have on them, but also for the consequences it would have on the unsuspecting, coffined passengers. Death, certainly. He forced himself to run faster. Akamatsu and Momota did the same, and they broke into the next car. The final car, finally. He wished he’d been more prepared. He wished he knew what he was getting into, when he decided to fight. He wished a lot of things in that moment.

 

In the front of the car, a large Shadow laid in wait. Not so much that it was hidden, but that it was actually lying on the ground. Opposed to the collection of hands that the last big Shadow had been, this one was clearly humanoid - and clearly meant to look female. Long white and black hair tangled up in the electronics and along the walls like wires. It wore a mask in the same style as the Tiaras’, hot pink and masquerade-esque with the Roman numeral II emblazoned near the left eye. Shuichi never really took note of the II, but seeing it at a much larger scale made it stand out more than before.

“What the hell..?” Momota stared at it dumbfounded. He had to agree that it was a lot to take in.

“That must be it,” Akamatsu said, the first to truly recover. She swallowed. “We need to defeated it, fast.”

“Yeah, yeah right.” Momota straightened himself out, shooting a glance towards Shuichi before rushing forward. He only got to its feet when it groaned, shifting its long legs. From its hair, two black blobs of sludge welled up before dripping off, one landing on each of Momota’s sides.

 

Then, they rose, two Tiaras elegantly spinning up from the ground fully formed. He flinched, and Shuichi quickly fired two shots towards the left one, knocking it back.

“Thanks!” Momota called back, swinging at the right one. At Shuichi’s side, Akamatsu shifted nervously, unable to do anything except watch out for them.

He fired a few bullets at the larger Shadow; in response, the Tiara he knocked back shrieked, emitting a soft glow before the holes in the larger one began to close.

“I think it’s healing!” Akamatsu said, her eyes wide, “Focus on the smaller ones first!” That was frustrating. Shuichi reaimed, finishing what he started before. Momota was about to finish off his when-

 

“Ah!” At his side, Akamatsu screamed. A giant spear of ice jutted out of the wall, having forced her to fall down to avoid being hit. They both moved to assist her, but the remaining Tiara spun around Momota and crashed into Shuichi, shoving him to the ground. If he wasn’t in pain before, he certainly was now. Shit, he was coughing again-!

“Saihara!” Momota wavered, before running to dispose of the Shadow. Akamatsu was slowly pulling herself out from underneath the icicle. Shuichi’s gaze flickered to the large Shadow; its eyes were glowing, and then-

“Shit!” “Ow!” Two cries rang out, and both of their legs were encased in ice. Shuichi kicked the Tiara away from him, firing a shot in its face before pulling himself up and running over to Akamatsu.

 

Underneath his feet, it felt like the train was speeding up.

 

“Are you alright?!”

“Yeah, just- just give me a minute!” She shifted and strained her lower body, grunting when it didn’t break. “Okay, um... A little help?”

“Of course.” He once again moved to help her, only to be met with a sharp pain in his side, sending him back to the floor. The Shadow kicked him!

“Urgh, forget it!” Akamatsu looked frustrated. “Just kill it already!” Um, okay, just- just let his body stop screaming in pain. Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes. He couldn’t do it. Harukawa was right; he was a hindrance to the mission. They were depending on him and he screwed it up.

 

“I- I can’t.” He closed his eyes.

 

 

 

“Dammit, get up!” Momota, having freed himself, rushed over, pulling him to his feet with a sharp tug. “You’re a man, aren’t you?! You can’t give up so easily!” He shoved him forward, before stabbing the foot that kicked Shuichi in revenge. The Shadow groaned in pain and summoned two more Tiaras, bringing the total count to three. As they dispatched of them and he took quick shots at the Shadow, an unbelievable pressure settled on his shoulders. How much time was left? He shot a killing blow into one of the Tiara’s and received a gash in his thigh from an icicle in return. He felt to a knee, continuing to fight despite the pain.

 

Were they winning? Were they losing? He couldn’t tell.

Behind them, Akamatsu clenched her fists. Tears welled up in her eyes. “I wish... I wish I could just- do _something!”_ She yelled, slamming her fists into the ground.

 

A heavy wail cut through the air, a discord of notes clashing angrily. The Shadow and its Tiaras reeled from the noise, and Shuichi’s head along with them, though he recovered fast enough to risk a glance back at Akamatsu.

Soft yellow keys laid out on the ground in front of her, compressed by her fists. Oh. _Oh._

“That's fuckin’ cool and all, but let's finish ‘em off, Saihara!” Momota pulled his attention back to the fight, ready to use the opportunity Akamatsu created to go all out. As they rushed forward, Shuichi easily filling the Tiaras with holes and Momota dragging his blade through the large Shadow’s guts, quiet plinking filled his ears. For the first time that night, Shuichi felt calm and confident.

 

That calm only lasted until the Shadows all dissolved, and they realized the train was still moving.

“Uhhh why isn’t it stopping?” Momota asked, looking between them to get an answer. The ice having disappeared along with the Shadows, Akamatsu sprung to her feet, piano keys floating up to follow her as she ran over.

“Quick, find the brakes, or the emergency stop, or something!” She rushed to the dashboard, running her eyes over the various buttons desperately. They both followed her, mimicking her actions futility.

“Dammit, I’m a future astronaut not a train conductor!” Momota swore, hands hovering over buttons but too hesitant to touch any of them. In the near distance, the train parked at the station waited, unaware of the threat rapidly approaching it.

 

They didn’t have time for this. Shuichi took his chances and grabbed a lever, pulling it towards him. It didn’t budge. He pulled harder, and noticing his struggle, his teammates darted over, placing their hands over his to pull with him. It gave way under their weight, and the three of them fell back as the train began to screech to a halt. They laid there, sweaty and bruised and battered and _alive,_ so so alive.

“Oh my god,” Momota began, his voice cracking and hoarse, “We did it.”

“Yeah, we did.” Shuichi could barely believe it. He was still processing everything, to be honest.

“I... I seriously thought we were gonna die,” Akamatsu choked out, wiping tears off her face. Slowly, the three of them sat up, and once they’d regained their breath, Momota pulled them into a group hug.

 

“Good work, both of you. I couldn’t ask for better sidekicks, Shuichi, Akamatsu.” God if he wasn’t crying already, he sure was now. The two of them returned the hug wholeheartedly, a small laugh bubbling up in Akamatsu’s throat.

“Since when did I become your sidekick too? I’m supposed to be the leader, you know.”

“Since always!” He conveniently didn’t respond to the leader remark. Or perhaps it was that he didn’t have time to, as the door behind them was shoved open, no longer powered by the Shadow. Harukawa entered, barely a hair out of place despite all the running she must’ve done to catch up. The three of them quickly pulled apart and rose; Shuichi’d certainly be lying if he wasn’t a bit embarrassed that she walked in on that.

 

She quirked an eyebrow at them. “I’m going to assume that since the monorail stopped and you’re sitting around, that you defeated it?”

“Yeah, um, we did,” he answered, pulling his hat down to hide his puffy eyes. She thankfully didn’t comment on that or the similar state the other two were in, instead leading them out of the monorail. Once they were out, she sighed, examining it.

“This is certainly going to be on the news.” She shook her head. “Anyway, we still have about fifteen minutes, you good to patch them up, Akamatsu?”

As if her question was a trigger, Akamatsu shot back into reality from wherever her mind was wandering, and excitement filled her expression. “Oh! Oh you have to see this, Harukawa-san!” She brought her hands up to hover delicately in the air, and a few seconds later the piano keys returned. She hesitated for a moment, as if thinking, before lowering her fingers. A soft, soothing melody drifted out.

 

And slowly, the wound on Shuichi’s leg began to heal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus the first Full Moon cycle has been complete. 3 months of writing, for something that took me 3 days to beat in P3P. The first month seems so short when you've spent so long writing it haha. Thanks for sticking with me so far! I appreciate every comment and kudo so much, it really makes me excited and happy that other people are enjoying this!


	13. Wake-up Call

**May 10, 201X - 7:02am**

“Oh, fuck,” was the first thing to leave Momota’s mouth that morning, followed by, “Midterms are next week.” Still feeling a bit brain-dead from the night before, Shuichi stared at him blankly, not fully processing what exactly caused him to drop his head down on the table in exasperation. He resumed nursing his coffee until Akamatsu came down and asked Momota what was wrong, and his sentence was repeated.

Oh. “Oh fuck” was an extremely accurate description of the emotion he was feeling right now. When was the last time he studied?! He let out a soft groan, joining Momota’s suffering as he too placed his head on the table.

 

“Hey, come on, it’s gonna be alright!” Akamatsu said, attempting to cheer them up, “We’ll go study together after school, okay?” She paused, looking into the other room, before calling out, “Tenko-san! Do you want to study with us after school too?” Shuichi lifted his head just enough to see the grimace that crossed Chabashira’s face.

“If it was just Kaede-san...” She huffed. “But Tenko has a very important meeting with Tsumiki-sensei today; Harukawa-san wanted Tenko’s arm to be checked, so...”

“I see.” Akamatsu looked disappointed, and Chabashira’s eyes widened.

“Ah, but if you need her to come running, Tenko will gladly come to your aid! Tenko knows what happens at these ‘private study sessions’...” She glared holes into Shuichi and Momota.

Akamatsu gave a weak laugh in response. “Um, thanks? I’m sure the only thing that’s going to be happening is studying, though.”

  


At school, there was a noticeable buzz about the monorail incident. With no clear explanation, blame fell on the station itself. Shuichi was just glad no harm had come to any of the passengers; he wasn’t sure he’d be able to handle the guilt if something had happened.

 

“Wow, the library’s so crowded,” Akamatsu whispered as they walked in, scanning the floor for an open table for the three of them.

“Maybe we should go back to the dorm then?” Shuichi suggested, and the other two looked to him.

“Um, that’s probably a bad idea. My piano’s there and I’d get distracted too fast.”

“Yeah,” Momota agreed, “Plus, whenever I get back to the dorm, it makes me tired.” He paused, scratching at his chin. “Alright, we’re going to my place!” He said a bit too loud, causing some of the other students to glare over to them. They quickly ducked out before Momota got them in trouble.

 

Once out in the hallway, Akamatsu turned to him with a smile. “Good idea, let’s do that!” At her enthusiasm at his idea, he returned it with a grin.

Shuichi felt like he was missing something. “Your place?” They shared a look, and answered his confusion with wider smiles.

 

They ended up dragging him all the way to the Iwatodai Strip Mall without answering his question. Aside from visiting the beef bowl shop with Momota, he’d hardly explored the place, so when they pulled him along towards a small shop on the first level, he wasn’t sure what to expect. From the shops surrounding it, he was expecting a small restaurant. Instead, he was greeted with a strong musty scent; old books. It was a bookstore. That was nice and all - Shuichi really loved the place already - but that explained nothing about Momota’s statement.

 

And then he raised his voice again, against all social norms of bookstore behavior. “Hey, I’m home!” At Shuichi’s astonished look, he gave him a thumbs up, and a few seconds later an old woman weaved her way around one of the bookshelves in the back.

“Hello, Kaito.” She gave him a warm smile, and when Akamatsu waved she added, “Ah, Kaede-chan too. Here to visit?”

“Studying,” the two said in unison, Momota continuing with, “Plus, I figured it was about time I brought over my new sidekick!” He gave him a heavy pat on the back, encouraging him forward, before stage whispering, “This is my grandma!”

Oh. That made sense, then. “Ah, um, nice to meet you.” He tugged at his hat nervously. “I’m Saihara Shuichi...”

“Any friend of Kaito’s is welcome here,” she said, gesturing them to more further into the store. A table was set up in the back, and Akamatsu and Momota were quick to drop their bags next to it and sit down. Shuichi hesitated before doing the same.

 

“Alright, let’s study!” Momota pulled out his notebook, forcefully placing it on the table, but not opening it. “We’ll start with you, Shuichi! Show my granny how awesome you are!” He puffed up as if he was the one being praised, giving Shuichi an eager look.

He flushed in response, not only from the over-exaggeration of his intelligence, but also the use of his given name. Momota had used it the night before, too; was this going to be a regular thing now? “Um, okay...” He reluctantly moved to pull out his own notebook, and while he did so, Akamatsu cut in.

“You’re going to make him nervous! Don’t worry, Saihara-kun, Miku-san doesn’t care if you show off or not; Momota-kun does plenty for everyone.” He was confused as to how someone could show off while studying; if he knew the answers, there’d be no point to it. As he pondered it, Momota’s grandma - Miku? - laughed at Akamatsu’s rebuttal, moving to busy herself elsewhere to give them space.

 

He was a bit relieved.

 

For all her enthusiasm, Akamatsu was the first to get burned out studying. Well, the first that was actually studying to burn out, anyway; Momota wasn’t doing much aside from quizzing them for answers.

“Ughhh, I can’t remember what the English word for _pan_ is...” Akamatsu groaned, burying her face into her textbook. “It’s not  bake, is it? That’s like, the second most common word that Andou-sensei uses...”

“I don’t think she says it that often...”

“It’s bread,” Momota answered, pulling her notebook over to write it down. “But, I thought you were good at English; you not feeling it today?”

She grunted in response. “So you know how you both were complaining that you felt brain-dead after...” She paused. “Yeah, well, I think I drained a ton of energy doing that last night. A lot more than I usually do, and it’s all hitting me right now.”

 

They gave her empathetic looks. “Shit, yeah, honestly I’m surprised neither of us are super wiped. Especially Shuichi.” He glanced towards him. “You were the one doing a ton of the work.”

“It wasn’t that much more than a normal Tar- um, a normal climb? Honestly I thought the one on 14 was much stronger...” There was an unspoken mention of the floor 6 nightmare in the brief silence that followed his statement.

Momota scratched at his arm. “Ugh, you know it’s peeling now? Fucking sucks.” His eyes flickered over to where his grandma was, and he lowered his voice further. “Don’t tell them, I don’t want them to worry.” They nodded in agreement. Shuichi tapped his pen against his book as they went back to studying.

 

They stayed until it was beginning to get dark and they were thoroughly studied out. Shuichi felt like his brain was turning into mush from all the vocabulary and equations they were attempting to cram into their heads. Miku waved them out once the exhaustion was plain on their faces. At least he was too tired to worry about if he made a good impression on her or not.

 

* * *

**May 12, 201X - 3:57pm**

He was standing in his room that morning and had a startling revelation; their trips to Tartarus were tearing through his closet - literally. He hadn’t noticed, since their rushed climbing had only been the week before and he hadn’t done laundry from all the mental exhaustion, but one by one each of his casual outfits were gaining holes, whether from ice or fire or gashes from sharp edges. And this meant he had a serious problem; he would have to buy new clothes at some point, and he had no idea where anything was.

 

“Don’t you think you’re jumping the gun a little bit?” Akamatsu questioned as he spilled his worries to her, “I mean, I’m sure some of those can be patched up.” She bit her lip. “Well, enough that you can rewear them for Tartarus. I can help you shop for not-Tartarus clothes if the patches are too obvious.”

“Do, uh, do I look like I can sew?” He responded, and she crossed her arms.

“Well, probably not... I can’t either, though. But, I know someone who will, in exchange for some help.” She led him down the hall, stopping in front of a room that read “Student Council”, knocking lightly on the door. Shuichi felt his heart leap into his throat.

“It’s Akamatsu, I’m coming in,” she said, pushing the door open. Inside, a girl with platinum hair sat, surrounded by papers. It wasn’t the mess that his paperwork descended into, however; it was almost too organized for what should’ve been the picture of chaos.

 

“Hello, Akamatsu-san,” she greeted, standing to approach them, “Can I assist you in any way?”

“Well, sorta,” she paused, glancing at him before continuing, “I know that you have a lot to do, but my friend Saihara-kun needs someone who can sew for reasons, um, but, uh, well we can’t really explain, so if you would please not ask and patch the clothes when needed, he’ll stay after and help you when you need it, if that’s a fair trade? He’s very reliable and a quick learner so I don’t think he’ll have any problems.” The words tumbled out of her lips, and Shuichi felt his anxiety tumble along with it. He only had half an idea of who he was even talking to and he was already being volunteered to assist her.

“I see,” she said, then fell silent for a long moment, “I must ask; is this a danger to our school and the students? If it is, I cannot agree to such a request.”

Akamatsu quickly shook her head. “No, of course not! Nothing like that!”

 

She closed her eyes, appearing deep in thought. “I believe this is a fair trade, then. You do help as well, so I feel indebted to you for that.”

“Thank you! Oh, but that’s really nothing.” She then decided it was finally time for introductions. “By the way, this is Toujou Kirumi-senpai, the student council president, remember?”

He nodded, quietly introducing himself before asking, “So, what should I do then..?”

 

Toujou picked up a pile of papers. “Do you know anything about accounting?”


	14. Discoveries

**May 20, 201X - 3:30pm**

Midterms came and passed too fast for him to comprehend. Despite feeling absolutely overwhelmed by the flux of information he frantically attempted to gain over the course of a few days, when the test was actually in front of him, he found most of the answers coming to him easily. Did it stop him from obsessing over the ones he couldn’t remember? Of course not, but at least he could rest somewhat easily knowing he didn’t outright fail.

“Well, we survived,” he said as a greeting to Akamatsu and Momota. The latter grunted in response, while Akamatsu responded by stretching.

“I had Chopin’s Prelude No.8 in F sharp minor playing in my head the entire last hour of the test. Hopefully that helps my grade?”

“What did you put for number 52? The one about the tomb?”

 

The three of them discussed the test as they left the school, though they didn’t get far before they ran into an irritated-looking Chabashira.

“Is everything alright, Tenko-san?” Akamatsu asked, concern filling her voice.

“No, today was already going badly, and then Tenko saw that evil degenerate Harukawa-san said to avoid. Guh, why is it so hard for Tenko to talk to cute girls without something going wrong?”

The three of them shared a look. “Did Ouma-kun bother you?”

She paused. “Well, no, but still! He was basically eavesdropping on Tenko’s conversation and- and she’s very upset!”

Akamatsu sighed. “Do you want me to talk to him? I can ask him to leave you alone.”

Chabashira looked appalled at the very idea. “What?! You can’t talk to that menace! What if he hurts you, or, or worse!” Before she could be argued with, she firmly exclaimed, “Don’t worry; if I see him again, I’ll throw him! So don’t go against Harukawa-san’s wishes for my sake!”

 

Shuichi winced both at the thought of being thrown and of the massive shitstorm that would come if it ever came out that he was friends with the local troublemaker.

 

“Ah...” Akamatsu looked at a loss. “Let’s... not do that. You wouldn’t want to hurt yourself, right?”

Chabashira gave her a smile in response. “Thank you for the concern, but my arm’s all better! In fact, I’m going to practice right now, so I’ll see you later, Kaede-san!” She waved and darted off, leaving them to shake their heads at her attitude.

“I should probably be worried, huh.”

“Nah,” Momota responded, “If he can handle himself in Tartarus, I’m sure he can handle this. Anyway, let’s hit up Wild Duck Burger on the way back; didn’t you say you wanted to give us a performance when midterms were over?”

She brightened up. “Oh! Yeah, I definitely still want to do that!” She gave them the rundown of her plans as they headed off towards Iwatodai Station. As they did so via the monorail, Shuichi’s phone buzzed in his pocket.

 

[3:47pm] Ouma: chabashira-chan is being mean to me :(((

[3:47pm] Ouma: i was just trying to talk to toujou-chan abt practice next week :((((

 

He furrowed his brows in thought, and Momota leaned over his shoulder in curiosity.

“Man, you haven’t blocked him? He started to annoy me after awhile.”

Shuichi flushed. “Ah, well, he does say useful stuff sometimes...”

“ _ Sometimes.” _

 

[3:50pm] Shuichi: What were you doing?

[3:50pm] Ouma: nothing!! she chased me off for no reason!!

Sure. He sighed.

[3:51pm] Ouma: anyway but what i really wanted to tell u was that i went to tartarus last night anddddd that weird barrier thing was gone :o let’s climb higher~ ^o^

 

Shuichi showed Akamatsu what he sent. “What do you think? Should we go?” She was the leader, technically, so it was up to her...

“Hm... Maybe? I don’t know, I’m kinda wiped still from testing. Tomorrow night?” She looked to Momota for his thoughts, and he nodded.

“Sure, that sounds good. But, uh.” His face scrunched up. “I’d rather Ouma not be there, so let’s not invite him.”

 

Akamatsu looked surprised. “Why?”

“He’s a huge pain; I don’t wanna us to have to chase him when he inevitably runs off.”

She frowned. “That’s true.” Her fingers drummed on the seat she sat in. “Maybe Harukawa-san will come with us now. And if she does, Ouma-kun’ll probably stay away...”

“They really don’t get along, huh,” Shuichi asked.

“I wish they would,” she sighed, “Definitely make my life easier.”

 

* * *

**May 21, 201X - 12:03pm**

“Have you been keeping up with the news, by chance?” Shinguuji began, sitting down next to Shuichi as he ate lunch with a collection of worn notebooks.

He swallowed the bit of food in his mouth. “Um, not really. Why?”

“Well, do you recall the hypothesis I mentioned after our meeting a while back?” When he didn’t respond, he clarified further. “About how the Dark Hour and Apathy Syndrome may be connected?”

“Oh! Yes, I do. Did you find something?”

He nodded, pulling out one of the notebooks and opening it. “I’ve asked a few of my psychology professors to relay numbers to me of how many cases there are day-by-day, and if you see here-” He flipped to a page showing a graph. “-the numbers increased at a steady rate until the 9th; from the 10th until a few days ago, there was a significant drop in the number of cases.”

 

Shuichi brought his hand to his mouth, processing the information. “The 9th was when we fought that huge Shadow... Do you have any numbers from last month?” He paused. “Ah, before and after April... 10th? 11th?”

“I can get some,” Shinguuji replied, “But at the moment, the farthest back I have is mid-late April.”

“I see. I’d appreciate that. If it did the same last month, then we could definitely establish a link between the two.”

He nodded. “I agree. Also, while I have you here, I want to show you something else I’ve been working on with Akamatsu-san’s assistance.” He closed his notebook and opened another. Inside were light sketches of various Shadows, not entirely accurate but close enough that Shuichi could tell what they were supposed to be.

 

“Data on the Shadows?” He reached for the book to flip through it. Along with pictures, information about their attacks and frequency of appearance were written.

“Field guides are often created for wild animals, so why not Shadows? Of course, it would be much better if I was able to observe them up close, but without the ability to fight, that would only result in death.”

“R-Right...” Shuichi took note that they’d also named the Shadows. He paused, and skimmed back to the Tiaras.

“So I noticed something while fighting that large Shadow... The mask of it and these Tiaras’ had the Roman numeral for two on them. Do you think that means something?”

Shinguuji considered the question for a long moment. “I’m not certain. Do the others have numbers as well? And how high up? ‘Two’ could mean any number of things.”

“I don’t know,” he answered, “I can try to examine their masks more often while we’re climbing, if you want.”

“Yes, that could certainly help narrow down what it could be related to. Let us reconvene after further research is done, yes?”

 

* * *

**May 21, 201X - Dark Hour**

Within a minute of being in Tartarus, they discovered something new.

“Floor 25?” Momota questioned, “Fuck, are there seriously eleven floors between the last device we used and that one?”

“I guess so,” Shuichi sighed, “I mean, why wouldn’t Ouma-kun activate other ones on his way up? He probably left as soon as he found one, like we normally do.”

“Yeah, guess you’re right.” He paused, then grinned. “Wanna skip some floors?” His hand hovered over the 25 for a moment, before hitting 14.

 

Akamatsu rolled her eyes at him once they’d regained their bearing from the transport. “I was going to say.”

“C’mon, I’m not stupid. I remember what Harukawa said as much as Shuichi does. Anyway, let’s try to get to where that barrier was quickly so there’s more time to climb the other floors.”

“Mhm,” she agreed, before her eyes lit up, “Oh! I gotta test out my piano some more tonight! We should test how far away I can be to heal, oh and I wonder what’ll happen if I play some of Clementi’s Sonatine Opus 26! Or maybe Bach’s Goldberg Variations, or maybe-!”

 

Shuichi had little to no knowledge of classical music, but it made him happy to see Akamatsu so animated. It helped take off the edge that Tartarus brought, that fear lurking around every corner. So much so that he felt like his mind was working properly for the first time all week, and when Momota brought out his blade, his perceptive gaze instantly zeroed in on the subtle difference in it.

“Say, Momota-kun, was your sword always so red?”

He paused after dispatching of a Cupid, looking down at it. “Uhh, maybe? I guess it was more of an orange than an orange-red at some point...” He scratched his head and shrugged. Akamatsu shrugged as well, leaving him uncertain. His bullets had been orange too, right? He paid more attention the next time he had to fire it; it look more... yellow? Hm.

 

He decided to leave that train of thought be for now.

 

The floor beyond the barrier was significantly darker in its design scheme, but otherwise no different in function. They climbed, encountering new types of Shadows along the way. It wasn’t until they’d climbed to floor 20 that he realized they hadn’t seen any of the ones that used to appear. There were Mayas and Tiaras, but they looked different. The ones on these floors seemed stronger too. And very fiery. Lots of fire came from almost every new Shadow, and that made them nervous, even with Akamatsu providing significantly better healing support.

 

And if that wasn’t bad enough, a terrible sight awaited them on the 25th floor. The floor’s guardian, a trio of Tables. Tables that juggled objects in the air above their surfaces. Said objects were on fire.

“ _ Fuck,” _ Momota hissed, shaking his head, “Seriously?”

Akamatsu groaned in agreement. “That’s what I was thinking. I’m not looking forward to coming back here.” Shuichi silently agreed, and they quickly made their way out before they could get attacked. With how tiring it had been to climb eleven floors, they’d be more or less fucked if they had to fight.

  
  


A short while later, Shuichi returned to his room, worn out and ready to pass out for the night. In doing so, he overlooked a new addition to his desk, one that he wouldn’t notice until morning came. His drawing of the Shadow he gave to Ouma had been returned, now featuring sloppy kanji reading “Reaper”.


	15. High Spirits

**May 22, 201X - 12:00pm**

“The results have been posted!”

That simple sentence turned Shuichi’s gut into a giant knot. As the rest of his classmates left to check the midterm scores, he shakingly stood, overwhelmed with nausea. By the time he’d made it out, he had to wait for the crowd to thin to even see the paper. From the beaming look on Momota’s face, however, his own results must’ve been good.

When the others finally began to return to the classroom, Momota noticed him, and his grin grew and he pulled him over to the bulletin board. “Shuichi! What’d I tell you, great work!” He gave him a heavy pat on the back, interrupting his process of the fact that his name was at the top of the list; he’d scored at the top of their class.

 

All the tension in his body left at once. “Ah, I guess you really were right,” he slowly said, almost hesitant to believe the results. He let his eyes scan down the paper, finding Momota just barely in the top 10 at 9th and Akamatsu a few more down. Overall, the three of them had done well.

Calming down, he decided to look over to see the results for class 2-E. Ouma had scored slightly better than him, but only was the second highest in his class. Someone by the name of Iruma Miu held the first spot.

 

Whispering suddenly reached his ears. His skin crawled; were they talking about him? His attention unwillingly focused on them.

“Can’t believe that slut ranked first. Think she bribed the teachers with sex?”

“Ha! Wouldn’t surprise me if Mitarai-sensei took her up on it; he doesn’t look like he gets any.”

“Didn’t she almost flunk out last year? There’s no fucking way they didn’t-”

 

A hand on his shoulder broke his concentration. Momota was frowning, and he squeezed Shuichi’s shoulder as if to physically restrain himself.

“Hey, don’t you have something better to do than shit on someone for being smarter than you?!” He shouted in their direction, and when they met his challenge with glares, Shuichi quickly pulled him back into their classroom.

Once inside, Momota crossed his arms, still visibly upset. “Guh, people like that piss me off. If you’re not satisfied with your result, you should’ve studied harder. Take that time spent grumbling and attacking others and use it to do better on the next test.”

“Yeah,” he quietly agreed, then scanned the classroom, “By the way, where’s Akamatsu-san?”

He sighed, calming himself. “With Chabashira; she looked distressed at her score, so Akamatsu ran over after checking hers.”

 

“Ah, I see. Are we having lunch with them, or..?” He normally ate with both Akamatsu and Momota, but he couldn’t see eating with Chabashira going well.

“Nah, let’s leave ‘em be for now.”

 

* * *

**May 24, 201X - 6:32pm**

“For now” extended all the way to Wednesday night, where he suddenly found himself having dinner out with the two people he tended to avoid; Chabashira herself, and Harukawa. How did he end up in this situation? Easy: Momota.

 

It started half an hour earlier.

 

“You know, we should do something to celebrate your high grade,” he mused, glancing at Shuichi before yelling to Akamatsu from across the room, “Hey, Akamatsu! Wanna hit up Hagakure with us?”

She started, surprised at his sudden shout. “Oh, um, well...” She looked apologetic. “I’m actually having dinner at my parents’ tonight. My sister really wanted me to come, so...” She wrung her hands. “Sorry! Tomorrow night?”

“Yeah, that’s cool,” he responded, scratching his chin before making a decision. “Alright! Harukawa, Chabashira, you’re up!”

“What?” Harukawa, who hadn’t been paying attention, looked up from her book. Chabashira fixed them with a suspicious glare.

“We’re going out to celebrate Shuichi’s score! So you gotta come for dorm bonding time.”

“No thanks.”

“Like Tenko would go anywhere with you- you menaces!”

 

That was that. Shuichi chalked it up to a loss, though not an unwelcome one. He looked to Momota, ready to head out without them, when he doubled down.

“C’mon, it’s Hagakure! Best beef bowls in town! I’ll even pay!” When neither budged, he looked to Akamatsu for backup.

She nodded, and moved over to sit next to Chabashira. “Tenko-san, please? They’re not going to do anything, I promise.”

She melted under the force of Akamatsu’s pleading eyes. “I- well, Tenko supposes...” She shot them another wary look, before biting her lip. “But only if Harukawa-san comes.”

 

The weirdest sight in the world awaited him after Chabashira’s condition. Never would he have imagined any scenario in which Harukawa relented to someone, but maybe he was underestimating the power of puppy-dog eyes. Scary. He’d probably never get stubborn enough to require Akamatsu to use them on him, at least.

 

And that was how they ended up crammed in a booth at Hagakure. Shuichi pulled his hat lower to avoid the displeased looked from the girls across from them, the awkward silence filled by the murmur of other people in the shop.

He would never understand how Momota was both excellent and absolutely horrible at reading the mood. “What’d I tell you; great idea, huh?”

“... Yeah,” he hesitantly agreed. Chabashira responded by angrily shoveling some noodles into her mouth.

“This is a waste of time,” Harukawa sighed, not afraid to be blunt and hurt Momota’s feelings.

“C’mon, don’t say that. If we’re gonna be a team, we gotta establish good communication between us. So, let’s get to know each other better!”

 

His proposal was met with silence. To Shuichi, the “team” was just himself, Momota, and Akamatsu. Harukawa would likely agree that she was on her own team rather than theirs. And Chabashira... well, she was eating and sending nervous looks to Harukawa?

“Okay, well...” Momota looked a bit put off. “I’ll, uh, I’ll start then. My favorite spaceship is-”

“I’m leaving.” Harukawa stood.

He frowned. “So you’re running away then? We live together, you can’t avoid us forever. You don’t have to tell us your life story or anything; it’s just a casual conversation.”

Shuichi had to admire his charisma. But with someone like her...

 

“Fine, whatever.” She sat back down. “Go order another bowl though; this one’s cold.” He did so readily, leaving the three of them alone. She sighed. “He’s too stubborn.”

“Yeah, that’s Momota-kun alright...” He took a bite of his food, then glanced to Chabashira. “You’ve been fidgeting a lot, is everything okay, Chabashira-san?”

She looked startled. “Of, of course! Tenko’s always great! In fact, I’m in perfect form today! Not tired at all! Definitely not, do I look like a menace who- who runs around, and, and breaks rules or something!”

... Well, she didn’t before, but now Shuichi was really concerned. “Did something happen?”

“No! Nothing! Do you want Tenko to throw you?!”

He shared a look with Harukawa, then said, “You’re a bad liar.”

 

Just as she was about to deny it again, Momota returned, two bowls in tow. He took one look at the table’s occupants and raised a brow. “You fightin’? Seriously?”

“Ah, no, well, it’s just-”

“Tell us, Chabashira,” Harukawa said, and she stuttered, words spilling out faster than she could handle.

“Well, Tenko’s really sorry but last night she was going to the bathroom and she saw that degenerate in the kitchen, so she went to chase him out, but he was fast and then the Dark Hour hit while she was out, and-” She took a breath. “-and then Tenko got attacked by a Shadow, and BAM, she defeated it.” She looked upset despite her words. “But he slipped away in the chaos, sorry Harukawa-san!”

 

Shuichi paused, taking it in. “Ouma-kun was in the kitchen?”

Harukawa’s gaze darkened. “How annoying. He’s always getting into our stuff; looks like I’ll need to change the locks again.”

“Wait,” Momota chimed in, “You said you defeated the Shadow, right? So you can fight them now?”

“Oh, well, Tenko just did what came naturally; Aikido!” Her eyes went wide. “Oh. Oooohhhh! Does this mean Tenko can join Kaede-san?!”

“Ah, if you want, then we’d be glad to have you,” Shuichi answered, and she wrinkled her nose in disgust.

“Tenko was asking Harukawa-san, but...”

Harukawa looked disinterested. “Akamatsu’s the one to ask. Do whatever you want, just don’t get killed.”

 

Momota scratched the back of his head. “Don’t feel like my question was answered... But I guess this is good, huh.” He smiled, patting Shuichi on the back. “Four might be a cursed number, but it’s a decent size for a team; I mean, at least, that’s what, uh, gamers say..?” He trailed off uncertainly at the end, before recovering with, “Well, not like I believe in that supernatural superstition stuff anyway, but still.”

Harukawa rolled her eyes, reaching over to grab her new bowl. “Just shut up and eat so we can leave.”

 

* * *

**May 24, 201X - Dark Hour**

“Alright, time to show off, Chabashira!” Momota encouraged, causing her to glare at him.

“Tenko’s only doing this for Kaede-san’s sake, don’t get used to bossing her around!” Regardless, she positioned her hands in front of her, and with apparent ease, a purple... pole... appeared in her hands.

“A stick?” Momota questioned, looking disappointed.

“It’s a jo staff, you _menace!”_ She moved, striking him in the arm with it.

 

He howled in pain, dropping to a knee. _“Shit! Fuck!”_ He clenched his shoulder, and Chabashira jumped back in surprise.

“O-Oh, um, s-sorry.”

Momota clenched his teeth. “It’s... It’s fine. No big deal. Glad to have you on the team.”

Shuichi paused. “Harukawa-san said something about that, didn’t she? Friendly fire?”

“Yeah, and she wasn’t kidding; that hurt like hell.” He took a deep breath, and then stood back up. “But I’m good now. So, jo staffs are used in Aikido then?”

 

Chabashira, who’d been qualmed by the consequences of her attack, jumped back to normal readily. “Yes! Tenko doesn’t use them all the time, but they’re an important part!” She spent some time lecturing them, running through the kata with the staff as she did so. There was something soothing yet terrifying about the fluidity of her motions. And if that wasn’t terrifying enough, he ducked out as soon as Momota decided he was going to attempt to mimic her movements with his sword. He wasn’t going to watch that blow up in his face when he could be sleeping off the fatigue today had brought.


	16. Fours

**May 25, 201X - 3:31pm**

Akamatsu seemed upset. Not that that was a hard observation to make; it was evident to everyone in the dorm from the moment breakfast started, and even more so at lunch when Momota got around to bringing up Chabashira’s awakening and desire to join the team. His enthusiasm was met with poorly disguised false cheer, some unknown source clearly bothering her and disrupting her concentration. Somehow, Shuichi ended up being delegated the role of figuring out what was wrong with her.

 

“Um, so, uh, do- do you want to go somewhere after, Akamatsu-san?” He hesitantly asked, a small bout of anxiety twisting his insides from his uncertainty.

She turned from cleaning up to look at him. “Oh, yeah, sure.” She gave him a shaky smile. “Where do you want to go?”

... He hadn’t thought that far ahead. “Um, ah, how about... Paulownia Mall..?” That was the only place aside from the strip mall that he knew. He needed to get out more.

“Okay, that sounds good. Just let me go talk to Toujou-senpai for a minute and I’ll meet you at the entrance.” He couldn’t tell if her agreement was genuine or not, and that made him feel nauseous. He wished his overthinking brain would shut up.

 

She perked up a bit once they reached the mall and he confessed that he had no real destination in mind, instead opting to accept her offer of giving him a tour around to her favorite stores.

“There’s so many good stores in the mall,” she sighed happily, “I go to Power Records a lot, but they don’t get new classical CDs very often.”

“Probably because not many people buy CDs anymore,” he quietly laughed, before quickly adding, “Not that buying them is bad or anything, um, just-”

She waved off his worry. “Yeah, I know. CDs make me happy though.” She pulled him by the arm towards the back of the mall. “My favorite shop’s over here, c’mon.”

 

In a secluded corner, hidden from view, was a store with soft blue lights. Akamatsu turned with a smile. “The Velvet Room. They mostly sell instrument equipment, but they have some really good modern piano sheet compilations. They also get in a lot of indie pianist music, so I always feel like I discover something new when I come.” She pulled open the door, entering. Shuichi followed close behind, quietly observing the store.

They spent some time browsing the music selection, and for awhile he completely forgot the purpose behind his outing. The soft melody playing in the store drowned out his worries, and likely Akamatsu’s as well. It was only the return to reality that jerked his mind back into focus, bringing the task at hand back to the forefront of his thoughts as they entered the cafe.

 

Of course, he had absolutely no idea how to broach the subject.

 

“So, um, if it’s okay to ask...” He started, chewing the inside of his cheek nervously, “Did something happen? We, um, well we noticed you weren’t feeling well today, and, ah, um...”

The bit of happiness that had blossomed on her face slowly slid off. “Oh, um, it’s really nothing. Just some family issues, I guess, but I’m over it now.” She slowly stirred her tea, releasing a long breath.

“I see.” He paused, trying to find the right words to say. “Um, we’re here for you if you need anything, you know?”

 

She looked surprised. “Yeah, I know. I’m really fine though.” She gave him a small smile. “But thanks. It’s nice that you and the others are looking after me even outside of the Dark Hour. So...” She once again looked more lively. “Don’t hesitate to come to me too if you need advice or to vent or anything!” She reached across the table and gave his hand a comforting squeeze.

And it was comforting. He returned her smile. “Alright.”

 

* * *

**May 26, 201X - Dark Hour**

“So this is the Tartarus everyone keeps talking about?” Chabashira asked, peering up at the tower with skeptical eyes. “It’s kinda weird...”

“Weird’s certainly an understatement.” Momota shook his head, then started walking towards the entrance. “Well, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover tonight, if we’re gonna get Chabashira caught up with us.”

She looked offended. “Who said Tenko needed to catch up with _you?!_ I’m perfectly fine doing whatever you menaces can do; my Aikido skills won’t be ignored!”

“I think there’s a pretty big difference between Aikido and fighting Shadows though...” Shuichi quietly objected.

 

Thankfully, instead of throwing him, she gave him a confident smirk. “Maybe for normal Aikido, but I’ve trained in a special Neo-Aikido that prepares you for any situation!” She summoned her weapon with almost the level of fluid ease that they were achieving as of lately, posing dramatically.

Akamatsu quietly laughed. “Well, if Tenko-san’s so sure, that’s good. You do say confidence is everything, right Momota-kun?”

He stuttered at having his words thrown back in his face. “W-Well, yeah, that’s true...” He scratched the back of his head. “Alright then, we’ll just continue where we left off.”

 

Not that any of them wanted to.

 

Shuichi wished they’d gone through with the training session. Anything would be better than the battle that followed. Though nothing would ever compare to the “Reaper’s” flames, the wide range of the Table’s fire kept the three experienced with climbing at a distance in fear. Chabashira, having no such experience, was the first to land an attack, her staff just long enough to keep a reasonable space between the Shadow’s floating, fiery kitchenware and herself. She was quick on her feet in a way that none of them were, quicker to react, quicker to dodge. Still, her attacks seemed to lack the same oomph that Momota’s did, evident when his first strike landed and sent the Table he chose stumbling back.

 

Shuichi found his mind wandering as he shot from afar, having little other choice in the fight. He and Akamatsu weren’t required to be up close and personal with the Shadows, and so it made some logical sense that she was the team captain, to help direct the flow of battle. However, he couldn’t tell if it was hard to do that and play the piano at the same time. What would happen in the event that the battles got more intense, that injuries happened more? His mind spun with what-ifs.

 

They finished the battle with only some minor burns and Momota on the floor clutching his chest from some weird attack the Table used on him.

“Feels like my chest is on fire too,” he reported with a grimace, one leg outstretched for Akamatsu to work her magic on healing the burn. Shuichi was glad that it was nearing summer and it was just about warm enough to wear short pants and sleeves to Tartarus all the time like they were now.

“If you have heartburn, I don’t think I can heal that,” Akamatsu joked, her fingers dancing across the keys. Chabashira looked enraptured with her piano skills and Shuichi couldn’t blame her. It was still incredible to him as well.

 

Once Momota’s pain faded, they made their way upward. There, the Eagles made their return known, to their surprise and unease. Like they were never important to begin with, they roamed the halls aimlessly like any other Shadow. That didn’t bode well; that implication brought the possibility of any of the significantly stronger “guardians” to appear again. Fighting them had been hard enough the first time; to potentially have to fight that same battle multiple times a night? Just the thought of it dug a pit of dread in his stomach.

 

There was a certain polar opposite feeling to the floors after the Tables’. As if their destruction had extinguished all the flames, the reign of ice crept up on Tartarus. Not that Shuichi would complain; as much as it hurt to get a limb encased in ice or sliced by a jagged edge, ice reminded him of the battle earlier in the month and their victory over it. Plus, it was so cold that the pain numbed itself out.

 

“Damn, how much higher we gotta go?” Momota complained as they reached the 32nd floor, rolling his left shoulder to relieve an ache.

“Well, this is just a guess, but... Last time we had to climb eleven floors, so maybe this time as well..?” Shuichi suggested, stretching his hand as it started to ache from holding his gun for what was likely almost an hour. “We might want to find an exit and try again in a few days, it’s probably almost time for the Dark Hour to end.” Come to think of it, what would happen if they were still in Tartarus when it ended? That wasn’t a topic that had ever been addressed; perhaps even Harukawa didn’t know. She didn’t seem to have much interest in Tartarus to begin with, however, so he supposed that wasn’t shocking.

 

“I agree with Saihara-kun,” Akamatsu said, nodding, “Remember, pacing is important; this is Tenko-san’s first climb, so let’s not overwork her.”

Any other time, he would agree. But Chabashira still looked almost as fresh as she had when they’d come in, and she clearly didn’t agree either. “Aw, thanks Kaede-san, but you don’t need to worry! Tenko’s good at knowing her limits, and this is nothing! If you wanted to carry on without these lazy degenerates, I could easily protect you alone!”

She sighed. “Please don’t talk about them like that; we’re all teammates, and we should stick together. So if they’re tired, and if the Dark Hour’s almost over anyway, it’s for the best that we leave.” She paused, then added, “And I’m tired too, so I don’t want to push myself either.”

Chabashira winced at being scolded. “O-Oh...” She shifted nervously. “Well, let’s go then...”

 

As tired as he was, it felt like they were making progress.

 

* * *

**May 27, 201X - 4:15pm**

“Can I ask you something?”

“Hm?” Ouma looked up, placing a card from his hand facedown as he did so.

“Why ‘Reaper’? That’s a pretty unique name.” Like the Maya, which neither Harukawa nor Shinguuji had an explanation for.

He hummed, shuffling his hand. “Do I have to have a reason?”

Shuichi frowned. “I think you have one, so...”

“So skeptical all the time,” he teased, “But maybe I have a reason. Will you tie me up and interrogate the truth out of me?”

 

He flushed in response. “What do you think a detective does?”

“Aw, boring.” He pouted. “I just went to Tartarus on a Tuesday and waited around on the 6th floor until it showed up is all.”

“... What?”

“Yep, I saw it with my own two eyes! And then, I wiped the floor with it!”

Shuichi’s mind spun. “That’s... That’s a lie.” It had to be.

“My beloved Saihara-chan doesn’t believe in my skills?! I’m hurt!” When he didn’t respond, Ouma gave him a wide smile. “But yeah, that was a lie. I just ran away after observing it for a bit. I’m good at hide and seek, not seek and destroy.”

 

That was... somewhat believable. “So you didn’t get caught?”

“Nope! I’m glad too; it really was as scary as Akamatsu-chan implied.” With his cheerful tone, it was hard to believe they were talking about the same Shadow. “Something like that deserves a scary name, like a Grim Reaper coming to harvest our souls!” He wiggled his fingers to emphasize the “spookiness”.

“... Okay.” That sounded reasonable enough. He wasn’t certain if it was the truth, but with no proof otherwise, he’d have to believe it. “Why did you go to see it?”

“Why not? Don’t you know that when you tell someone not to do something, it makes them want to do it more?”

He had nothing to say to that; it _was_ true.

 

“Well anyway, you ask too many questions. You should learn to just roll with what happens and relax. So...” He pulled another card out of his hand. “I’ll place a monster in defense mode and end my turn.”

 

* * *

**May 28, 201X - 1:05pm**

Something dramatic had to have happened over the course of 24 hours. That was the only thing he could deduce when Chabashira came knocking at his door, bowing at the waist.

“Saihara-san! I... I would like to request your help with something!”

Was he allowed to refuse? He had the strong feeling he wasn’t. “O-Okay, um, what is it?”

Aaand she was glaring. His body tensed unwillingly as she let out a frustrated growl. “Tenko’s still very upset that that degenerate Ouma-san got away! So, to regain my honor and make Harukawa-san happy, I want you to help me find him!”

 

He silently screamed. “I don’t think she cared that he got away; she seemed more upset that he was in the dorm.”

If the glare wasn’t aimed at him before, it certainly was now. “Ugh, of course a male like you would say something like that. It’s clear you don’t know anything about how a women thinks or feels!”

... He probably shouldn’t respond to that. He sighed. “So you just want me to help you find him?” It certainly wasn’t an impossible task, but what would happen to him once they got their hands on him... Yeah. Probably wouldn’t be good.

“Exactly!”

“And why me?”

 

She huffed. “Because Kaede-san said she was busy and everyone else is a horrible disgusting menace!” So he ranked somewhere between horrible menace and Akamatsu. That was a pretty wide range. Also, hadn’t Akamatsu said she was free today? Perhaps she felt bad for Ouma’s fate as well and made up an excuse.

He fidgeted nervously. “Well, I could try. I get the feeling his schedule’s not very predictable though; you’d probably have better luck trying to find him right after school than just wandering around looking for him.” Should he sell out his hiding location of the roof? ... Probably not. As frustrating as Ouma was sometimes, he was a decent conversation partner and a good source of information about the Dark Hour. When he felt like it, of course.

 

“But he’ll just run away again! Like when she saw him with Toujou-senpai!” She paused. “Oh! Maybe she knows his schedule! She knows everything!” She gushed, and Shuichi slowly began to close his door to retreat from the conversation.

“If he runs, you can always try chasing him again? You’re more athletic, so I’m sure you can catch him.”

“That’s right! Thanks, Saihara-san, you’re slightly less of a degenerate than I thought!” That was the nicest thing she’d said to him yet. Thanks, Chabashira.

 

And good luck, Ouma.


	17. Disappearance

**May 31, 201X - 7:22pm**

“Why is it always Hagakure?” Shuichi asked, earning himself an offended look from Momota as he turned away from the shop’s entrance to face him.

“It’s good food, Shuichi! You can’t turn down a healthy dose of beef!” Healthy? Nothing about the food they served was healthy, as far as he could tell.

Still, he apologized, “Sorry, um, let’s go in?”

Momota paused, scratching his goatee. “Well, maybe something lighter would be better; can’t have you feeling too full to move during our first training session.”

“... Training session?”

 

He grinned. “Yep! Since we don’t go to Tartarus all that often during the school week, I thought it’d be good to at least exercise regularly so climbing's less physically taxing. Maybe with a good schedule, you’ll stop gasping for breath after a few flights of stairs.” As Momota laughed, Shuichi felt his face flush in embarrassment.

“Is, is that really necessary? I mean, I already have Aikido practice...”

“Aikido’s not bad, but there’s more to a good workout than, uh, whatever you do in there.” Chabashira would kill him if she heard that. “You’re, uh, you’re pretty stationary, right? So let’s do like, I dunno, 5km jogs or something.”

“F-Five?! That’s too much!” He liked Momota and all, but he had no sense of limitations sometimes.

“Fine, we’ll start with two then. You better keep up!” That was the only warning Shuichi got before he ran off, moving faster than “jog” implied. Was it too late to mention he wasn’t exactly sure how long a kilometer jog was supposed to be?

 

Twenty minutes passed, though in Shuichi’s mind it felt like an eternity. Keeping up with Momota made him feel like he was going to pass out, but thankfully after the first five minutes he slowed down considerably to a more appropriate jogging pace. Something in his brain told him they must’ve ran more than the set goal, but he honestly had no idea.

 

“Phew.” Momota finally slowed to a stop, sweating but nowhere near as exhausted-looking as Shuichi felt. He stopped as well, placing his hands on his knees to steady himself as he coughed from how out of breath he was. “I think that’s good for today, Shuichi.”

“O-Okay,” he managed to get out, relief filling his body. Momota gave him a pat on the back (which was very unhelpful in stopping his coughing), then glanced around.

“Hey, we’re near Naganaki Shrine, you wanna check it out?”

He honestly didn’t want to move any more, but he couldn’t refuse. “Ah, s-sure?”

 

In defiance, his stomach growled, causing Momota to laugh and promise to buy him dinner afterwards. They climbed up the stairs to the shrine, finding it empty. Not that he expected anyone to be around at this time of night. He looked around, enjoying the quaint building and calm scenery. A small playground sat off to the side, and the two of them made their way over to it, sitting down nearby.

“It’s not the best, but this is a pretty good place to stargaze,” Momota started, looking up at the sky, “Sometimes I’ll bring my telescope up here and spend hours lookin’ at ‘em.” He leaned back, resting on his palms. Shuichi shifted nervously, uncertain if he was supposed to say something in response. He followed his gaze upward, taking in the faint starlight speckling the night sky.

 

Time passed in comfortable silence, and Momota leaned further back until he was lying on the ground. Shuichi considered joining him, but his body ached at the thought of lying on the hard cement.

“Tomorrow’s June, huh. Time really flies.”

“Yeah,” he answered, glancing over.

“Two months left until summer break. You got anything planned?”

“Not really. It’s still pretty far off.”

Momota grunted, then pulled himself up. “Well, at least we get to switch to our summer uniforms tomorrow. It’s starting to get warm out.” He glanced at his watch. “Damn, it’s getting pretty late too; let’s go get you dinner before you disappear.” He laughed, his grin far brighter than the stars above them.

 

* * *

**June 3, 201X - 8:15am**

Walking into school that morning, Shuichi noticed the buzz of conversation was a bit louder than usual. Curiosity got the better of him, and he lingered near the shoe lockers to eavesdrop on those passing by.

“You hear about what happened to Takada-kun?”

“No? What- Wait, was he the guy they found lying outside this morning?”

“Yeah, I heard someone say he went missing last night. He was perfectly fine yesterday, but now...”

“They were taking him to the hospital, right? Fuck...”

 

After the story began to repeat itself, he finally headed off to 2-F, mulling over the gossip. Inside the classroom was the same as outside, however; most of the other students weren’t in their seats, instead choosing to huddle around a friend’s desk to discuss what happened.

“Hey, Shuichi,” Momota greeted with a small wave, “I’m guessing you’ve heard the latest?”

“For the most part, yeah,” he answered, making his way over to his desk and sitting down. He glanced around, frowning when he noticed something. “Where’s Akamatsu-san?”

He shrugged. “The halls are pretty crowded this morning; she’s probably waiting for everyone to thin out so she can get through or something. She came on the same train as you, yeah?” She had, and he’d let her go on ahead after they changed shoes. Theoretically, she should’ve been here by now...

 

Homeroom came and passed with no sign of her. Shuichi sent her a concerned text, but by the time lunch rolled around there was still no reply. Anxiety swelled in his chest, and Momota wasn’t doing a good job hiding his own worry as he suggested they ask around for her. Thankfully, before they got too far off, their homeroom teacher Yukizome approached them.

“You’re looking for Akamatsu-san, right? She asked me to come get the two of you.”

“Is she okay?” He asked, and she wrung her hands in response.

“Let’s talk in the faculty office.” She ushered the two of them downstairs, and by the time they reached the office, Shuichi’s stomach was twisted up so tightly he thought he might throw up.

 

Akamatsu was sitting in the far corner of the room, Ouma and the homeroom teacher for 2-E, Mitarai, standing nearby. The three of them looked over at their entrance, then Ouma leaned over and said something to Akamatsu. She nodded in response, and he gave them a half smile and a wave before ducking out of the office. As they drew closer, it was clear from the puffiness of her eyes and her attempts to blot away remaining tears that she’d been crying.

 

Shuichi’s throat constricted. “Did- Did something happen?” No, it was clear something  _ had _ happened; it was a matter of what.

She bit her lip, clearly struggling not to start crying again. “It’s, Miu, my sister, she- she, she didn’t go home last night, or the night before.” She swallowed a sob, wiping at her face. “Both Ouma-kun and I’ve texted her, but she hasn’t responded to anything since, since Thursday afternoon.”

Momota shifted uneasily. “Damn. Your, uh, your parents know anything?”

 

The temperature in the room seemed to drop as Akamatsu’s expression shifted to anger. “Of course not! They barely cared to show up this morning to talk to Mitarai-sensei about it! They just said that she probably ran off like I-” Her voice broke from the intensity of her emotions. She took a deep breath, wiping her face again before continuing quieter. “-like I did. They think she’s just being rebellious or something, but she... she wouldn’t just disappear like this.”

“Sorry,” Momota softly replied, moving to sit in the seat next to hers, “Want us to help you look for her? Shuichi’s a detective, remember?”

“In training,” he added, before adjusting his hat, “Um, but I’ll do my best.”

“Thanks guys.” She sniffled, taking another deep breath to calm herself. “Sorry, I’m not feeling up to school right now; can you share your notes later?”

“Of course!” The both of them responded, and she gave them a small smile.

“Thanks, I’ll see you after school, okay?”

 

* * *

**June 4, 201X - 10:02am**

They searched well into the night, only stopping when the Dark Hour threatened to fall. It was exhausting talking to such a large amount of strangers to collect testimonies. Especially when said testimonies were overall useless. No one had seen her. Akamatsu seemed disheartened but unsurprised, saying that her sister was largely a recluse when no one was around to drag her along with them. If she’d gone out, she likely wouldn’t have interacted with anyone, much less a stranger.

 

Which narrowed their search to the school area. If she hadn’t gone home, and no one had taken note of her wandering around, that was the only logical place left.

 

“Any luck, Akamatsu-chan?” Ouma greeted as they entered the empty school grounds. She didn’t have time to respond as Chabashira let out a war cry and lunged for him. Oh right. That was a thing that happened. They hit the ground, him squirming to get away while she grabbed his arm and twisted it behind him.

“Tenko-san!” Akamatsu shouted in alarm, rushing forward to stop her from breaking Ouma’s arm from how hard she had it pinned to his back. “Let him go; he’s helping us look!”

“What?! This horrible menace?!”

“Chabashira-chan’s so meannnn,” Ouma cried, fake tears welling up in his eyes, “Don’t you know Iruma-chan’s my bestest friend in the whole world?! I can’t live without her!”

 

“Cut it with the dramatics, Ouma,” Momota sighed, running a hand through his hair, “Just leave him be; he’s an ass but he’s not gonna do anything. Except being annoying, probably.”

“... Fine.” She scowled, but released him. He hopped to his feet, rubbing his arm.

“Momota-chan has no faith in me; I’m so hurt. And I got some good info too...”

Akamatsu perked up. “You learned something?”

He hummed. “Something like that.” He gestured them to follow him further into the schoolyard. He stopped once they were on the front steps, plopping himself down on them.

 

“So I was listening around yesterday, and there’s a lot of rumors and speculation about what caused that guy Takada to pass out. Something that stuck out to me was that this rumor going around about a ghost causing it.” He paused. Next to Shuichi, Momota shuddered. “Iruma-chan’s ghost.”

“No,” Akamatsu breathed out, crossing her arms and holding herself tightly.

“I’m pretty sure she’s not dead. I just... don’t know where she is right now.” Ouma looked frustrated for a moment, before his expression returned to a neutral false smile. “Anyway, the rumor started when her absence was noticed by some of Takada’s friends in 2-E. They’ve been bullying her, you know.”

“Tsk, of course a bunch of evil  _ men _ would gang up on a poor defenseless girl.” Chabashira glared at Ouma as if he was part of the problem.

 

He ignored her. “I also heard something else; Takada was diagnosed with Apathy Syndrome at the hospital. So, it’s preeetty likely the Dark Hour is involved.”

“How so? I mean, if she entered it like we do, she’d just leave when it ended...” Shuichi questioned, ideas brewing in his head. “Assuming she didn’t get attacked, of course...” The intrusive thought of an Akamatsu-looking figure getting burned to nothing but ash surfaced in his mind. His throat tightened in a reflexive gag.

“I don’t know, Saihara-chan. It’s just a theory; you’re the detective, not me.” They were seriously overestimating his abilities. At least missing person cases were somewhat in his ability to help solve.

 

“So, we’re going to search during the Dark Hour then?” Momota asked, earning a tight-lipped smile from Ouma.

“That’s exactly it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tfw you casually insert your own birthday into the chapter that gets published on your favorite character's birthday by complete coincidence
> 
> anyway I love Kaito happy birthday to the luminary of everything <3


	18. The Search

**June 4, 201X - Dark Hour**

True to his word, Ouma appeared outside their dorm just as the Dark Hour set in, inappropriately peppy as he led them around the green-tinted streets.

“So, I’ve already taken the liberty of checking the areas surrounding her house, along with the strip mall and the station. I was thinking we start with the mall, then work our way around to the station and towards the school,” he suggested in a way that seemed more like directions to follow without question.

“Seems like you’ve been busy,” Shuichi commented, and Ouma glanced over.

“Yep! I searched last night too; it pained my heart so much to see poor Akamatsu-chan torn up. Anyway, can Chabashira-chan stop glaring at me? I know I’m unfairly cute, but that’s no reason to be hostile.”

 

He blinked at the sudden change in topic, while the girl in question released a noise of frustration. “Don’t think we’re friends, menace! I’m only cooperating because Kaede-san said to, but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re still Harukawa-san’s enemy!”

Ouma gasped. “Enemy?! But Harukawa-chan’s my best friend! To hear she thinks that way about me...” He gave an exaggerated sniff. “That makes me so sad!”

Shuichi licked his lips. “Um, but I thought you said, um, Iruma-san was your best friend.”

“Oh yeah, well, that was a lie. Or maybe it wasn’t; am I not allowed to have multiple best friends?” When one of the self-declared best friends wanted him dead? Probably not.

 

“Oh, by the way,” Momota cut in, “I was wonderin’ about that. Uh, Iruma’s name, that is. Why don’t you have the same family name, Akamatsu? If it’s alright to ask.”

Akamatsu looked up, her gaze having been trailing along the ground. “Oh, um, it’s fine. She’s only my half sister. And neither of our mothers were married to our father when we were born, so...”

“Hm, I see.” He nodded empathetically. “Well, either way, we’ll find her soon, so don’t worry too much.”

She smiled weakly. “I’ll try.”

 

Their sweep of the mall and the station turned up nothing. No trace of Iruma existed, and if it did in the form of her coffin, it wasn’t like they’d be able to tell amidst the countless others belonging to normal people.

“Normal people” was such a strange thing to think. Shuichi used to consider himself fairly normal, but the way his life had been going lately certainly didn’t seem to be heading down that path anymore.

 

There was a silent mutual understanding that none of them wanted to search inside Tartarus. Admitting she could be in there was almost too close to saying she was dead. They piddled around the building’s outskirts, calling out to a girl they weren’t even sure would respond.

 

“Fuck,” Momota breathed out as he rejoined them from having jogged over to the other side of campus, “Either she’s incapacitated somewhere and can’t respond, or she’s not here.”

Shuichi brought a hand to his mouth, closing his eyes as he thought. “Maybe... Maybe we should try a different approach.”

“Huh?”

“Well...” He reopened his eyes, turning to face Akamatsu. “How about we try to figure out what she would do if, theoretically, she entered the Dark Hour. How do you think she would react, what would she do?”

Akamatsu bit her lip. “Honestly, she’d probably panic. She doesn’t like to admit it, but she’s easy to scare.” Ouma nodded along as she spoke, but didn’t add anything.

 

Panic was a familiar reaction; that had been his own after all. But he’d calmed down enough to get moving after a while, so... “So either she ran, or she calmed down. Where would she run to, if she ran, or what would she do after she calmed down is the question.”

“To figure that out, we’d probably need to know where she was when she entered,” Ouma pointed out, “But right now, we’ve searched a lot of the obvious places, and the only place remaining is Tartarus. She’s a wimp, but she’s also pretty curious, you know.”

There was a long silence, before Akamatsu swallowed, her body rigid but her eyes determined. “Let’s go then.”

 

Inside Tartarus was no different than usual. Ouma approached the panel, triggering the floor selection screen, but not selecting any of them.

“I think we should split up. There’s not a lot of time left, and there’s too many floors to cover.”

Shuichi was about to object, when Akamatsu spoke up, “Sounds good. Tenko-san, will you search 14 to 25?” She turned to them. “Saihara-kun, take 2 to 5, Momota-kun, 5 to 10?”

He hesitated, while Momota answered, “Yeah, uh, I guess. Where’ll you be searching?”

It was faint, but he noticed her hands were trembling. “I’ll be taking the floors above 25 with Ouma-kun. He’ll need someone to heal him in case things get bad. We don’t know what’s up there after all.” She turned to him. “How much time would you say we have?”

“20 minutes. Give or take.”

 

She turned back. “Let’s not waste time. Please trust me, and don’t linger too long fighting the Shadows; just run if you can. It shouldn’t take too long to climb the few floors you have.” It was clear from her tone that she wouldn’t accept any argument. He nodded along with the other two, and she joined Ouma at the panel, disappearing off to the 25th floor.

 

At which point, Chabashira let her annoyance show. “Grrr, he better not lay a hand on her..!” She stormed over to the panel and off to her own assigned floor.

Momota scratched his head. “Wonder if I should’ve suggested I go with Chabashira and you take my floors. Eleven floors is a lot to cover by herself.”

“She’ll probably move faster without, um-” Probably best to cut that sentence short- “She’s pretty fast, I’m sure she’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, guess you’re right. Well, see you in a bit. Be careful.”

“You too.”

 

Now alone, he had to climb the staircase up alone for the first time. He was nervous. The last time any of them were alone in Tartarus ended horribly. His stomach churned as he entered the void, praying for Momota’s safety as he passed through the 6th floor.

Within seconds of running through the 2nd floor, the screams of Shadows reached his ears. Their fear? Him. They were scared of  _ him. _ The Maya and Tiaras that once threatened his life now went running at the very sight of him. He wasn’t complaining, but it was just...  _ weird. _

 

Getting up to the 5th floor was far easier than climbing three of the higher floors would be. It was almost boring. Like a walk to the station or waiting in line for food. Was this a bad sign? Shouldn’t he feel relieved, rather than bored? Hopefully he was just overthinking it.

Shaking his head, he quickly scoured the 5th floor before returning to the entrance, finding Momota draped against the stairs looking both bored and worried.

“Hey, Shuichi. No luck?” At the head shake he gave in response, Momota sighed. “Figured. I didn’t find her either.”

 

After a few minutes, Chabashira returned. Even longer later, Akamatsu and Ouma came stumbling out of the device, the former breathing heavily from all the running they must’ve done.

“Fuck, so no one found her?”

“She, She might be on a higher floor,” Akamatsu wheezed out, coughing, “We got up to 36, and this- this huge statue-like Shadow was blocking the way.”

“Well then, let’s go-” Momota started, only to be cut off by Ouma.

“No. The Dark Hour’s almost over. Come back tomorrow night, alright?”

 

The frustration in the group was high as they sulked out of Tartarus. Shuichi fell back from Momota’s side to Akamatsu’s, giving her a hopefully encouraging smile. “I’m sure we’ll find her soon. Maybe this just means she wasn’t in Tartarus after all.”

She sighed. “Maybe...” She glanced back towards the tower. Shuichi did the same, and noticed Ouma still at the base, looking up. He followed his gaze skyward; the barely visible moon was about three-fourths full.

 

* * *

**June 5, 201X - Dark Hour**

Ouma started as they entered, hand twitching to fidget with the hem of his shirt.

"You ready to search again?" Shuichi asked.

He took a moment to respond, expression blank. "Yeah. Let's go to 36." He gestured towards the panel, letting them enter first before squeezing in between Momota and Akamatsu, letting Shuichi press the floor button.

 

“Huge” was certainly the word to describe the statue lying in wait. It was twice their height, almost filling the width of the hallway. Just looking at it, he was at a loss as to how to fight it.

It appeared Chabashira felt the same. “So, er, how do we fight a statue?”

Ouma picked at his fingernails idly. “Well, how did you fight Tables? It’s not like they’re actual tables and statues; they’re black globs taking the appearance of other stuff.” He grinned. “Anyway, good luck! I think I’ll sit this one out; I’m still tired from last night. It’s good to listen to Shinguuji-chan’s rules about not pushing yourself.”

Momota narrowed his eyes at him. “How the fuck d’you know that?”

 

Ouma didn’t answer, instead ducking away as a blast of air tore through the group, knocking Shuichi off his feet and sending him tumbling. Blearily, he shifted his gaze to the Shadow, finding its front opened much like a cabinet. Or an iron maiden.

“C’mon, we can’t have you getting wiped already, Shuichi!” Momota complained, wrapping his arm around his shoulder and hauling him to his feet.

“S-Sorry.” He needed to stay focused, and stay close to the wall so he wouldn’t get blown away. He summoned his gun and started shooting, careful not to hit either Momota or Chabashira, who were more or less just bashing the outside of the statue with their weapons.

 

After a minute, it groaned, its doors slowly swinging open again. The two scrambled back to avoid getting caught between the stone and the walls. A thick purple mist leaked out, causing Ouma to chime in with a shout of “cover your mouths!” Shuichi and Momota immediately complied; Chabashira, not so much. She appeared to decide attacking the stained-glass interior would be more effective than riding out its attack (or rather, listening to a “degenerate menace”), jabbing her jo staff forward with a battlecry. Where one would expect shattered glass, black ooze squirted out, and Momota had to rush forward to jerk her back as its doors began to quickly swing closed.

“Don’t touch me!” She shouted, and he gave her a glare.

“Well don’t be stupid! You-”

“Tenko’s not the stupid one, you are!”

“What?!”

 

“Guys!” Akamatsu shouted over them, “Now’s really not the time!” To further emphasize her point, her hands danced across the piano keys, harsh sounds echoing down the hall in an angry manner. The Shadow shuddered at the noise, clearly not liking whatever she was doing to it. The two arguing looked put off too; did it affect them as well? Shuichi didn’t feel any different.

 

Regardless, they ceased bickering and the fight resumed, and it appeared that they were finally making a dent in the statue. Momota’s blade tore through the stone exterior like butter, his own bullets digging holes into it. It was finished off just as it began to prepare another attack, Chabashira leaping forward once again to hit its “guts”. She gave Momota a smug smirk at her finishing blow, to which he rolled his eyes and ignored.

“Good work, let’s get moving,” Akamatsu said, jumping straight past the post-battle breather into pushing forward. He probably should’ve spoken up, but he let her command go; she was the leader for a reason.

 

The next floor was small, almost barren of any sign of Shadows. The following floor was little different. In fact, there was no significant change until the reached floor 40, still in decent shape from only having run into a handful of fights. There, another barrier laid, surrounding the steps further up. But there was still no sign of Iruma. He couldn’t tell if he was disappointed or relieved.

There was a long pause as the group processed the sight in front of them. Finally, Momota slowly said, “Well, we’ve searched all 40 floors. What now?”

 

There was no answer.

 

* * *

**June 8, 201X - 1:12am**

Shuichi blinked wearily as his phone buzzed, waking him up from the hour nap he’d gotten. With Tartarus ruled out, they’d taken to searching aimlessly the past few nights, slowly growing drained from the fatigue that the Dark Hour brought. He reached towards his nightstand, fumbling for his phone to see what notification was disrupting him. Blurred vision barely let him read the bright text, saying something or other about an email in his personal inbox. He groaned, tossing it back on its changer and rolling away to resume his sleep.

 

Probably wasn’t important.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _One day until Full Moon_
> 
> Hey! So I've got finals coming up, and I want to be able to give next chapter and those the proper amount of attention, so I'll see you in two week on the 3rd!  
>  (also for the curious, Kaede was playing bits of Robert Muczynski's Six Preludes, Op.6; it's good stuff)


	19. Double Vision

from:  **Ouma Kokichi** <kinghorse@pmail.com>  
to:  **Saihara Shuichi** <saihara.shuu1@pmail.com>  
subject: IMPORTANT PLZ READ!!!

hey saihara-chan!!

if you’re reading this, that means i didn’t stop it from sending to you :((( something must’ve happened to me :((((( so im leaving my life in your capable hands, but dw im probably not gonna die or anything lol im probably just stuck in tartarus

did u know that if ur in tartarus when the dh ends it feels like u just immediately go into the next dh? like how normal ppl dont experience the dh and instead have a seamless transition btw just before it starts and right after it ends. its v weird u-u

anyway please come save me!! come to the boys bathroom in the science hallway shortly before midnight and hopefully you’ll end up around where i’ll be ^o^

see you soon!!!  
your beloved ouma-chan <3

 

* * *

**June 9, 201X - 3:26pm**

“You know, I noticed Ouma’s been scarce. Think he’s still helping us look?” Momota asked, tossing his jacket over his shoulder as they waited for Akamatsu to join them outside the school.

“I don’t know. He hasn’t texted me asking to meet up, so either he’s off looking on his own or he’s given up.” The latter seemed unlikely, from how persistent Ouma seemed to be, but from how moral was dropping in the group he wouldn’t be too shocked...

“Well, if he’s not gonna be hanging around, I was thinking about asking Harukawa to help. Maybe she would have some new ideas.”

“Maybe...” She was always scarce herself, so catching her to ask would take some effort.

 

Out of the corner of his eye, Akamatsu exited the building, giving them a wave as they turned to greet her. “Alright, I’m ready to go. I’m thinking we should ask members of the sports teams today if they’ve seen her, since they’re usually around campus after school.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea,” Momota responded, “Though don’t let Hoshi see us; I’ve been skipping practice to help look.”

Despite the clear joking tone, Akamatsu winced. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to cause you both so much trouble.”

He frowned. “Hey, no, it’s fine. He won’t care once I explain.” He gave her a pat on the back, sending a look in Shuichi’s direction.

“Momota-kun is right. So, let’s go look.”

 

With their encouragement, she shook off the guilt and led them around to the practice building. After bumping into Chabashira and getting her enthusiastic cooperation in questioning the Aikido and swim teams, they reached the sports field, where the track and tennis teams were currently practicing.

“Ah, Harukawa-san’s here today,” Akamatsu commented, pointing her out on the track. She looked intensely focused, but not angry. That was good, probably. Shuichi was glad he was starting to be able to tell her neutral face from her legitimate glares.

“She looks busy; let’s talk to her later,” he suggested, and they nodded in agreement.

 

The three of them split up to ask around. Unfortunately, no one had anything to offer, aside from that rumor going around about a ghost attacking students that come to school at night. It was pretty ridiculous, in his opinion. Upon regrouping, the other two agreed, though Momota’s uncharacteristically shaky and hesitant.

“Are you alright, Momota-kun?” He asked.

“Of course I am!” He responded defensively. “Why wouldn’t I-”

 

“Oh, right!” Akamatsu interrupted, “You’re scared of ghosts, aren’t you.”

Momota responded to her blunt statement with astonishment. “What?! I’m, I’m not, who told you that?!”

“Your grandparents.” She smiled as she efficiently cut down his denial. “It’s okay, Momota-kun, we all know there’s no ghosts.”

He crossed his arms and looked away. “Y-Yeah, obviously. So, So let’s stop talking it.” He paused, eyes looking at something beyond them. “Anyway, looks like Harukawa’s taking a break; let’s talk to her.” He jogged over, escaping the conversation. Shuichi wasn’t expecting that revelation, but it was somehow... endearing? Was that a word he could use? Hm.

 

“Hey, Harukawa!”

She immediately greeted Momota’s call with a sigh. “What is it?”

“Help us look for Akamatsu’s sister.” He wasted no time jumping straight in, not even asking before skipping straight to demanding.

She met his eyes with stoic blankness. “Why? If you haven’t found her with three of you looking, adding my help won’t make much of a difference.”

She had a point. A point that Momota wouldn’t accept. “C’mon, it’s more than just extra manpower. Er, womanpower?” His eyebrows scrunched, before he shook his head. “Whatever, it’s about getting a new perspective; a fresh pair of eyes might find something we overlooked. Isn’t that right, Shuichi?”

 

Why was he always the backup in arguing Harukawa? “Um, yes?” He hesitated. “At least, um, it can be useful in solving particularly tricky cases...”

She gave him a look. “You know, when you talk with such uncertainty, it actually weakens Momota’s arguments.”

He drew back. “S-Sorry.”

She sighed. “Whatever. I’ll help, I guess, but don’t expect much.”

Momota ignored everything she said between his argument and her agreement. “Great! You can come with me then, and Akamatsu can take Shuichi. With his detective skills and your fresh eyes, I’m sure today’ll be the day we find her!” She looked entirely unconvinced at his words.

 

Well, they could at least hope.

 

* * *

**5:42pm**

“Oh.” Shuichi paused, causing Akamatsu to look back at him. He’d opened his phone to check the time as well as a map, only to notice a notification on his email app. He didn’t get many emails, so it drew his attention, leading to a discovery that changed everything.

“What is it, Saihara-kun?” She returned to his side, peering over his shoulder.

“This, this was sent the night before last...” He dragged his thumb along the timestamp, a lump of concern forming in his throat. He handed his phone to her, almost afraid that he was going to drop it if it remained in his increasingly shaky grasp.

 

She frowned, quietly reading and then rereading the email. “What is he doing..?” Her expression solidified, and she met Shuichi’s eyes with a strong resolve. “We’re going to go get them.”

“... Um, them?”

“He has to have found her. I... It just has to be why he would do this.” It seemed more like she was trying to convince herself than Shuichi. “So we’ll go rescue them. Tonight.” Her eyes burned with determination, and he couldn’t find any reason to refuse her.

“Okay. I’ll let Momota-”

“No. Just us. I, I don’t want to drag them into this too. It could be dangerous to enter this way.” She looked down. “I don’t want to cause more problems for everyone.”

He paused, trying to understand her logic. “Why me then?”

She looked back up. “I need someone to go with me, and Ouma-kun sent that to  _ you _ specifically. But, well, if you don’t want to...”

 

He was going to regret this. Just like he regretted all his decisions. “I understand. I’ll come with you then.”

She gave him a weak smile. “Thanks. So, a little before midnight we’ll meet in front of the school, and then...”

 

* * *

“... So how are we getting in?”

 

Akamatsu crossed her arms. “Um... I didn’t think that far ahead, actually.” She bit her lip, then gestured for Shuichi to follow her. “Let’s look around.”

There was something inherently wrong about being on campus at night, something that covered his arms in goosebumps as they made their way around the school as quietly as possible, the full moon their only light. First door they found, locked. So was the second and third. It was clear they weren’t going to have luck as they approached the entrance again, completing a loop. Akamatsu sighed and turned back towards the door they just left.

 

“I didn’t want to do this, but...” She gave Shuichi a nervous look. “You... You know I’m not trying to break the law, right? This doesn’t bother you too much? I didn’t think about how you would feel...”

He blinked. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want to help. I know you’re not going to do anything... well,  _ illegal _ illegal.”

She quietly laughed. “Hopefully, yeah. I think getting in will be the most illegal thing I’ve ever done.” She approached the last door, reaching up to her hair to pull off one of her hair pins.

 

Which she promptly slipped into the lock and began to move about.

“What- Are you picking the door?!”

“Shhh!” She ignored his outburst, listening for the soft click of it unlocking. When she finally heard it, she turned the knob, returning her pin to its rightful place. “I told you it wasn’t going to be legal, but it works.”

“Where did you even learn to do that?” He was more shocked by that than anything that had happened recently.

“Ouma-kun taught me. It’s a long story, let’s just get going before the Dark Hour hits.” She ducked inside, forcing Shuichi to drop the conversation. They needed to be quiet as they were making their way over to the bathroom.

 

His stress level spiked as they passed through the main lobby, sneaking by the nightguard. He risked a glance at his phone as they pulled into the right hallway, finding the time alarmingly close to midnight. 11:58pm. He pulled ahead, trying to keep his footsteps light as he entered the boys’ bathroom, Akamatsu close behind.

Inside, well, it was a normal bathroom. He released the breath he’d been holding, leaning against the wall while Akamatsu glanced around. “Huh. I feel like I was expecting something different.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s more or less-”

 

He didn’t get to finish his sentence. Midnight hit, and the world around them warped. Shifted, turned, spun, went dark. His consciousness faded, then returned. He was on the ground, the familiar purple walls of Tartarus surrounding him. His mind felt fuzzy, and he groaned as he pulled himself to his feet, an ache pounding in his mind. Then, he realized.

 

He was alone.

 

“Akamatsu-san?” His voice broke, and he glanced around the corridor rapidly. Panic shredded his nerves as memories of the Reaper were dragged to the surface. He started running, desperation fueling every footfall. The Shadows gurgled angrily as he ran by, shifting to attack, but he continued fleeing. Was she even on this floor? Something deep in his mind told him no. He couldn’t rely on anything but his instincts, so he ran up the stairs as they appeared.

 

His head hurt as the Shadows he avoided glowed and dimmed, flashed of blue and yellow surrounding them. He didn’t have the time to ponder what it meant. He raced up another flight of stairs and around a corner, tripping over an outstretched leg.

“Oh, it’s Saihara-chan.” Ouma’s voice reached his ears through the shock of falling. He winced as he pulled himself into a sitting position, looking to him. His hollow-eyed stare was only met for a matter of seconds, when Shuichi noticed the girl passed out on his shoulder. It was obvious who it had to be.

 

“You found Iruma-san? Is she okay?”

“Well, she’s not dead. For having been in here for...” He paused. “What is today?”

“The 9th,” he answered, before asking, “How long have  _ you _ been in here?”

Ouma thought for a moment. “Since... the night of the 6th? So about 3 hours. She’s been in here 8 though.” He gestured his head towards Iruma. “I found her passed out like this when I entered. She’s not hurt though.” He gingerly tilted her off him and stood up, stretching. “Well, Saihara-chan, I hope you can help carry her; she’s too heavy for me to-”

 

“Miu!” Akamatsu cried out, rushing over to join them. She pushed past Ouma to kneel down, grabbing her shoulders. “Are you alright? Are- huh?”

“She’s unconscious, but she’s okay.” He placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. “Let’s get her out of here, alright? Ouma-kun can explain on the way.” He glanced to him, and thankfully received a nod in response. Shuichi let the two of them support Iruma so he could watch out for any Shadows. It was clear, however, that Akamatsu was doing most of the work.

“Don’t worry, she’s not that heavy,” she reassured him, though Ouma’s strained expression told a different story. Not that he looked like he had tons of upper body strength.

“If you say so, just let me know if either of you need to switch out.”

 

They cautiously made their way through the halls, progressing almost too slowly for Shuichi’s comfort. At least Ouma and Akamatsu’s conversation provided a good distraction from his anxious thoughts. They paused as they passed by an exposed side of the tower, the huge green moon bathing them in its light. Their unconventional entry really put them in a weird part of the tower, huh; this was the first time he’d seen the outside while in Tartarus.

“A full moon? No wonder the Shadows are restless,” Ouma commented, adjusting Iruma.

“Does that affect them?” He asked.

He hummed. “Shadows aren’t too different from humans; we change with the phases of the moon too.”

 

“That’s common misconception; it’s-” His words disappeared as his vision warped. His mind was yanked from his body - or, well, that’s what it felt like at least. A haze of dissociation settled on him, as if he was looking in on the world from another location.

Another location? Through his confusion, his unfocused eyes started to recognize his surroundings. The entrance hall. Yes, that had to be it; the stairs with the giant clock at the top... That was definitely the entrance. Two massive shapes wobbled nearby, at their feet two smaller shapes.

 

That’s all he got before he was slammed back into his body, cold glass chilling his palm as he fought to stay upright with the window’s assistance.

“Did, did you see that?” Akamatsu asked, not looking much better herself.

“Yeah, what, what was that?”

“I don’t know.” She bit her lip. “Let’s hurry and find an exit, I’m worried.” They picked their pace up and were quickly rewarded with an exit device. None of them hesitated in entering it, Shuichi the last to leave to watch their back.

 

In hindsight, he should’ve gone first. But how could he know that they were walking straight into the battlefield?

 

He emerged just in time to see Chabashira fly across the room, the blunt edge of a giant sword responsible for the attack. Akamatsu shouted in alarm, pushing the entirety of Iruma’s weight onto Ouma so she could rush over to check on her. He stumbled, body visibly tensing from the sudden amount of force he had to exert to remain standing. Shuichi would've helped him, if he hadn't been preoccupied staring up at the not one, but two giant Shadows filling the hall.

 

A round, feminine one stood on the left, white mask marked with III tilted upwards haughtily. It waved a scepter in its hand without direction, its long cloak shifting with every slight movement. To Shuichi, it looked much like a European Empress.

And if that was the case, the Shadow on the right began to resemble a knight, or perhaps even its counterpart of Emperor. Tall and lanky, it looked like it could barely support the weight of its puffed-up chest, constantly readjusting its stance to keep from toppling over. It followed suit with its crown-like purple mask displaying IV. The shape of its eyes gave the impression of fear; that was relatable.

 

“What are you doing here?” Harukawa snapped, pulling Shuichi’s attention away. But she wasn’t looking at him; she was glaring directly at Ouma.

A wide smile broke his previously neutral expression. “Am I not allowed to be here? This  _ is _ a public location.” He began to drag Iruma towards the entrance. “But I’m busy right now, so have fun with whatever  _ you’re _ doing here, Harukawa-chan.” He grin grew. “Better duck.”

 

The Emperor swung its blade in a wide arc towards her, forcing her to leap back to avoid it. She scowled and fired her crossbow into it. It didn’t react, only lurching back upright. The Empress gave a short shrill shriek, spinning its wand in the air in a huff. A blast of wind tore along the wall, and Ouma shouted in alarm as he was knocked off his feet, Iruma crumbling on top of him.

“That’s what you get, you degenerate!” Chabashira shouted from across the room, acting as if she hadn’t also been knocked around by the Shadows. Akamatsu sighed from where she stood, piano at the ready. Her brows were furrowed in concern but she remained where she was.

 

Harukawa ignored the three of them, focusing her attention on Shuichi. “Saihara, you take the left one with Chabashira.” Her orders were brief; she immediately turned back to the fight, aiming up at the Emperor as she quickly crossed the room, climbing up onto the staircase for a higher vantage point.

Chabashira huffed as she ran to his side. “You heard her, what are you standing around for?!”

“Ah, sorry.” He summoned his gun, raising it to aim at the Empress. Another headache pounded in his head; the Shadows glowed, the Empress a consistent orange, the Emperor flashing between red, blue, yellow, and green. He clutched his forehead and tried to focus.

 

Chabashira’s first strike caused it to let out a high scream of pain, wobbling backwards from the jab to its gut. It pushed her back with another gust of wind, or at least attempted too; it barely nudged her. She wasn’t weak to wind, after all.

... That was a weird thought. Being weak to wind? It was just  _ wind. _ He shook his head, and again tried to fire.

 

He got two good shots in before his arm was jerked, his next bullet flying wildly off-aim.

“Wait, don’t kill that one,” Ouma said before he could get any words out, “I think it’s weak to your attacks.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

He paused. “But what about that one?” He pointed to the Emperor, which Harukawa was still locked in battle with. It still didn’t seem fazed by her attacks. “I have a plan, but I can’t let you kill this one.” Why, he wanted to ask. But now was hardly the time to be asking; he just had to trust him.

“Okay. What should I do?”

 

He grinned. “Ask Akamatsu-chan to stop Chabashira-chan, then watch over Iruma-chan for me, okay? I’ll take care of the Emperor, then you can clean up.” Shuichi nodded, and ran to deliver the message. The plan was vague, but it would be better than- wait, he also called it the Emperor?

He didn’t have time to question it as Ouma entered the battle, pulling into the middle of the room. For a split second, Harukawa jerked her crossbow to aim at him, before glaring and shouting down.

“What are you doing? Go away.”

“Ooh, Harukawa-chan’s so scary,” he teased, “Don’t shoot me! I’ll cry!”

“Cry then.” She fired a shot far off from him as a warning. He didn’t react to it, instead turning to the Empress.

 

“Hey, fat bitch!” He took his shoe off and threw it. It didn’t appear hurt by it, but that drew its attention. It shrieked in annoyance, waving its wand to attack. Ouma ducked and rolled out of the way as another gust of wind tore through the middle of the room, and hit-

 

It hit the Emperor.

 

It let out a pained moan, stumbling back and collapsing on the stairs, forcing Harukawa to jump down. She fixed Ouma with a glare, running towards him. Akamatsu shouted after her, but the thing to stop her was the Emperor pulling itself back up, slamming its sword down in the space between the two. Aiming for the Empress. Oh. They were fighting each other. That was Ouma’s goal.

 

It was more than clear which was the stronger one. The Empress, though large, had at least some balance and aim. Like an angry wife, it huffed and sent it flying back with another blast, its sword left embedded in the ground. If it hadn’t looked scared before, Shuichi certainly couldn’t deny it now. Its body was starting to break down, large globs of goop beginning to drip onto the floor.

Harukawa appeared to decide the Emperor wasn’t worth her time, as she changed her target to the Empress. It screamed loudly as her first arrow hit it, staggering back and toppling over. Was she going to kill it? The Emperor wasn’t dead yet though..!

 

Time for yet another bad decision. He rushed out, putting himself in-between her and the Shadow. “W-Wait, Harukawa-san! We, we need this one alive!”

“Why?” She asked, annoyance filling her tone to the brim. “Don’t tell me you’re going along with whatever  _ he _ has planned.” She jerked her head in Ouma’s direction, where he was pulling himself up on top of the abandoned sword.

“Well, it’s, it’s just, it’s just a good plan...” He wilted under her judgmental glare. Out of the corner of his eye, the Empress was getting up. Maybe he could buy it some time-

“Just get out of my way. I told you, if you’re going to interfere with my missions,  _ I’m _ in charge.” She let her weapon phase out, approaching him with an aura of intent.

 

He was  **scared.**

 

“Saihara-chan,” Ouma called out to him, “Get on the ground.” That was all the warning he got. He dropped down just as a final blast tore through the room, sweeping over him and around Harukawa to hit the Emperor. It let out a long, deep groan, falling to its knees as its form fell apart, black erasing its features until it finally collapsed on itself, nothing more than a pile of sludge on the floor. Its sword followed it, dropping Ouma back down onto the ground. He sprinted off as Harukawa spun towards him, hiding himself behind one of the pillars along the wall.

 

Chabashira, having been waiting for her cue, ran back in, a war cry echoing around the entrance hall. Shuichi rolled onto his back, aiming his gun upwards as she gave the Empress a solid jab. Within the minute, their combined attacks finished it off. As he lay there calming his racing heart, he couldn’t help but think that these Shadows actually weren’t as strong as he was fearing. That was comforting.

 

They stayed in silence for a few long moments, until the door creaked open. He just barely caught a glimpse of Ouma slipping out as he turned his head towards it.

Harukawa sighed. “How annoying.” She crossed her arms, eyes scanning the room. Akamatsu, finally free to relax, ran back to Iruma’s side. She was still unconscious and unharmed. “Is that your sister?” Harukawa asked.

“Yes! Ouma-kun found her!” She received no comment on the second part.

 

Chabashira ran over. “I’ll carry her, Kaede-san!” Her offer was almost too enthusiastic.

“Thank you. We should...” She frowned. “Do you think we should take her to the hospital..?”

“Ah, probably,” he said, “We’ll have to wait for the Dark Hour to end though.”

“Right...” Akamatsu hugged herself as Chabashira scooped Iruma up. “Well, let’s get going then. I want to make sure she’s okay.”

“I’m sure she will be, Akamatsu-san,” he replied, trying to give her a comforting smile before glancing to Harukawa.

 

She gave him a cold stare. “We’ll talk about this later. Just go on ahead. Bye.” She swept out, fists clenched. He swallowed nervously. Oh no.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second full moon complete, as well as my semester of school! Thanks again to everyone that's commented and kudo'd, your support means a lot to me <3 ~~This chapter ended up almost twice as long as the previous full moon hsfjkshdg~~


	20. Warning

**June 10, 201X - 7:02am**

“What?! You guys went and fought another big one last night without me?!” Shuichi winced as Momota’s shout filled the kitchen, attempting to carefully slip by him and Chabashira.

“You weren’t in your room, don’t blame me! Harukawa-san’s a very busy woman, she didn’t have time to go looking for you!”

“I was just on the roof, you could’ve texted me!”

“It was the Dark Hour! And I don’t have your number, you idiot!”

“Don’t call me an idiot!”

 

They continued arguing as Shuichi turned on the coffee machine. Shinguuji seemed unfazed, chuckling as he added to their conversation, “Didn’t Harukawa-san say not to go on the roof any longer?”

“That was before we could fight Shadows; I figured it was okay now!” He finally lowered his voice, scratching the back on his head. “It was a full moon last night, so I wanted to stargaze for a while, and, well, I just fell asleep for a bit.”

“It’s still your fault then, menace!” Chabashira was especially irritable this morning, huh.

“It’s not! Last full moon, I got interrupted to go help Harukawa, and the full moon before that the dorm-” He paused, moving his hand to stroke his goatee thoughtfully. “Huh, the dorm also got attacked on a full moon...”

 

The coffee machine beeped urgently as Shuichi blinked. “Oh, yeah, it did.”

Momota finally acknowledged his presence, spinning to greet him. “Oh, hey Shuichi! That’s pretty weird, huh. Maybe these big Shadows come out during the full moon.”

“In all our time of knowing each other, I do believe that’s the smartest sentence to come out of your mouth,” Shinguuji commented.

Shuichi quickly spoke over him before Momota could get sidetracked by another argument about his intelligence. “That would make sense. Ouma-kun did say last night that Shadows get more, um, restless on full moons.”

 

A brief silence followed his contribution, before Momota looked around the room. “By the way, where’s Akamatsu and Harukawa? Normally both of ‘em are down here by now.”

“They’ve already headed out for the day,” Shinguuji replied, “I caught a bit of their conversation as I was leaving my room, and Akamatsu-san was requesting Harukawa-san’s company somewhere; I presume to go check on her sister in the hospital.” His sentence ended on a fond note. Shuichi took a sip of his coffee, silently glad that Harukawa wasn’t around to scold him for last night. “For the meantime, I do believe there is little we can do but wait for news back.”

 

Momota frowned. “So is she okay or what? Did she get Apathy Syndrome?”

Shuichi shook his head. “They couldn’t tell. Of course, we did stop in late; there really wasn’t anyone around to do any tests, so I’m guessing they’ll figure that out today.”

He sighed. “Hopefully everything’s alright.”

 

By the end of the weekend, none of them were certain if things were alright or not. Akamatsu never showed up to school, and by the time she returned home late that evening, none of them had the heart to go pressing for details with how exhausted she looked. She was gone most of Sunday as well, worrying the rest of them further.

Harukawa didn’t return at all, or if she did, none of them saw her. Shuichi was relieved, personally, but to the others in the dorm it just added another layer of concern. Shinguuji attempted to reassure them by telling them that she often left for the weekend with little luck.

 

He hoped the tension would die down soon.

 

* * *

**June 12, 201X - 3:30pm**

“Sorry, Saihara-kun, but I’ve really got to go,” Akamatsu said, shoving her school supplies into her bag. “I- I don’t want to leave Miu alone.”

“I understand, but...” He shifted. “How is she? Is there anything we can do to help?”

“I- They can’t find anything wrong with her, but... She won’t wake up.” She swallowed. “She’s- She’s had problems before, where she fell into a coma, but- but that was different.” She shook her head. “Anyway, I need to go; I want to be with her when she wakes up.”

“But...” He paused. Should he object? “I don’t know if it’s healthy for you to...” How to put it? “For you to, um, seclude yourself like this?”

 

“I know that...” Akamatsu looked away, hugging herself. “But... I just need to do this for now. I’m sorry. If you want to help, would you go help Toujou-senpai in my place? I worry about her overworking herself when I’m busy...”

That was probably the best he was going to get for now. “All right, I can do that. Don’t worry.” He watched her rush out before softly sighing. Time to get to work, then.

 

He headed over to the student council room, not surprised when he found Toujou dusting and reorganizing the files yet again. He had quickly figured out that she was a bit of a perfectionist, so he wasn’t surprised by the sight.

“Hello, Toujou-senpai,” he greeted, patiently waiting while she finished her task to return his greeting.

“Saihara-kun. My apologies, but I’m still waiting on the fabric to fix the shirts you gave me.”

“Ah, um, okay, that’s fine. But I’m actually here to help; Akamatsu-san was worried about you.”

“I see.” She shifted about the room, putting cleaning supplies and other files away in the process. “I’ve told her she needn’t worry, but she always does regardless.” She closed her eyes, a small smile on her lips. “She has a very big heart. Perhaps, I worry, too big for her own good.”

He smiled as well. “I agree.”

 

She nodded, quiet for a moment as she composed her thoughts. “Well, then, today I need to work with the track team. If you’d like to assist, I’m sure I can find work for you out there.”

Internally, he was sweating up a storm. Track meant Harukawa meant Death. But... “That sounds fine,” he somehow responded without his voice betraying his inner anxiety. For Akamatsu, he reminded himself over and over as they headed downstairs and through the practice building.

 

Immediately upon exiting, an unexpected surprise was dropped on him. Literally. A heavy weight materialized on his back, nearly sending him toppling to the ground if it weren’t for Toujou’s quick reflexes.

“Nishishi! Ooo, Saihara-chan’s here!” Ouma laughed into his ear. He silently groaned. He was so dead! So freaking dead.

Toujou quickly moved to extract him, disappointedly saying, “Ouma-kun. Please don’t jump on people.”

“Yes mom,” he sang, earning himself a sigh.

“I’ve told you, please don’t call me that.”

 

He only hummed in response, before turning back to Shuichi. “So, why is Saihara-chan here?”

“To help with the track team?” He weakly responded, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt.

Ouma’s grin grew. “How fun! You should run with us for a while; you look like you need it.”

... Us? “Um... Ouma-kun, you’re part of the track team?”

“Yep!”

 

“How are you alive?” slipped out of his mouth before he could stop it. Ouma laughed while Toujou folded her hands in front of her.

“I assume you’re referring to the... strong aversion he and Harukawa-san have towards each other? As team captain, I make sure to schedule their practices around each other.” Strong aversion was an understatement.

“Well,  _ I _ don’t avoid Harukawa-chan,” Ouma interjected, “But I play along so mom doesn’t get mad at us.” He grinned. “Besides, we all know who’s the better track and field athlete, right?”

“... Are you expecting me to say you?” Shuichi asked, “Because I’ve seen Harukawa-san run, and her legs are longer than yours.”

 

He smirked. “Ah, but track and  _ field, _ Saihara-chan. Don’t underestimate me too.” He ended his sentence with a whine, covering his eyes with an exaggerated sniff.

“All right, Ouma-kun, time to practice. You skipped the past two weeks entirely.” Toujou finally ushered him away, ignoring his complains and the pouts he sent in both their directions. He watched them get started warming up with the rest of the track team, until Toujou tasked him with setting up the hurdles.

 

Shuichi sighed as he set down one of the hurdles. They were surprisingly heavy. But at least he felt better mentally now; if Ouma was here, then Harukawa wasn’t. He was still safe.

 

* * *

... Until he got back to the dorm, that is.

 

“Hello, Saihara,” Harukawa said, closing her textbook and standing from the computer in the lobby. His entire body went stiff, his heart leaping into his throat.

“He-Hello, Harukawa-san.” Maybe he could hope she forgot about it?

“Come here.” She crossed the room to the couches in a blink, sitting down. Goodbye, life. His entire body quivered as he slowly made his way to the couch across from her. She stared at him. “Stop looking like that; I’m not going to kill you.”

“S-Sorry.” Should he feel glad or scared that she knew she was coming off as murderous? He tried to relax regardless, pulling his hat down further over his eyes. “So, um, w-what is it..?”

 

After a moment of hesitation, she sighed, “I would like to apologize. Akamatsu informed me that she thought I scared you the other night, and it appears she’s right.”

His mind paused. “... Huh? Oh, um, okay.” Maybe there was a glimmer of hope after all? “Is... Is that it?”

“No.” Damn. “I know I already warned you. And I know that you probably won’t listen, just like Akamatsu. But I’ll say it again: stay away from Ouma.”

“Why?” His palms itched with a desire to  _ know. _ “He hasn’t done anything to us.” Unintentionally, the silent “yet” tacked itself on at the end.

She paused. “He’s not safe. Like a bomb waiting to explode.” She stood with a huff. “If you don’t want to get caught in the blast, you’d be wise to stay away from him.” She clenched her fists, eyes almost... sad? as she walked towards the front door to leave. “From both of us.”

 

The door slammed shut behind her.


	21. Push and Pull

**June 13, 201X - 4:27pm**

“What? She said that to you?” Momota asked, tightening his grip on the strap as the train jerked.

Shuichi nodded, sighing, “Honestly, I still don't know what to think. I understand that she and Ouma-kun have some sort of feud, but he acts like it's no big deal and she acts like we'll end up dead if he snaps or something.”

“Hm.” He stroked his goatee. “Well, there's no point in worrying yourself over it. Akamatsu's a pretty good judge of character, so if she doesn't think he's dangerous, it's probably good.”

“Hopefully...” He looked out the window at the rapidly approaching Port Island. “Did you text her that we're coming?”

“Not yet; I'll do it once we get off.”

 

While they were hanging out at the strip mall, Momota suddenly decided that they should go visit Iruma and check up on her and Akamatsu. Enough time had passed that it was highly likely that she would be open to visitors outside of immediate family. Plus, he wanted to attempt to talk her out of stubbornly remaining at her sister’s side from the time school let out until visiting hours were over late at night. Shuichi hoped he would have better luck than he’d had yesterday.

 

“Hey, Akamatsu,” Momota greeted as they entered the hospital room, “Any updates?”

She looked up from her textbook as they entered, sadness on her face. “Unfortunately, no. But it hasn’t gotten worse, either, so I guess that’s good.”

They approached the bedside; Iruma looked as if she was sleeping, a frightening thought if not for her soft yet obvious breathing. The only real indication that something was wrong were the IVs in her arms, feeding nutrients into her body.

 

“I know you’re here to ask me to come back with you,” Akamatsu finally said after a few minutes of silence, “I’m sorry for worrying the two of you so much.”

“Man, you need to stop apologizing so much,” Momota sighed, “You could be doing so much more with all that wasted energy. Trust that the doctors have this covered, and live your life so that Iruma’ll be happy for you while she’s out cold.” Shuichi nodded in agreement; Momota was good with words, sometimes.

“You’re right,” Akamatsu also agreed, “So, I’m having her transferred to the dorm, so I don’t have to worry as much.”

 

A beat passed, before Shuichi responded with, “Um, I don’t think that’s what we were saying at all.”

She huffed. “Well, I can’t leave her here! I told you that already!” She crossed her arms. “She’s terrified of doctors and hospitals; if she woke up here all alone, she’d panic and cry!”

“Okay, well, I understand, but... I don't think it's healthy for her to leave? The doctors would know how best to care for her, right?”

“Shuichi's right. They'll call you or your parents immediately if something happens, so-”

“She's just comatose, not dying!” Akamatsu snapped. She took a deep breath to calm herself before continuing. “But Harukawa-san thinks that she’s just having a negative reaction to the Dark Hour. There’s nothing the doctors can do to help with that.”

 

“We’re not going to be able to change your mind, huh?” Momota scratched the back of his head. “Geez, all you girls so headstrong.” He paused, then smiled sheepishly. “Guess that’s not a bad thing, though. Anything we can do to help?”

Akamatsu returned his smile. “I’m glad you understand. And yeah, there actually is.” She quickly explained that she was planning to clean up the room across from her own in order to move Iruma to the dorm. Of course, said cleaning was falling to them as a result of their countless offers of help. Shuichi couldn’t complain; he was more than happy to help see her smile again.

 

“By the way, Akamatsu, did you hear what Harukawa said to Shuichi?”

 

* * *

**June 15, 201X - 7:15pm**

It took all of Wednesday afternoon, but by Thursday everything was set up to move her into the dorm. Around this time, Shuichi began to wonder what sort of person she was. From the various tidbits of info he’d compiled over the past few weeks, he could only imagine a smart, somewhat shy girl. Maybe the sort of girl that got overpowered by her sister’s cheerful outgoing nature.

 

However, he wasn’t sure what exactly what was up with her fashion sense, as they unpacked a box of belongings Akamatsu and Chabashira hauled over.

 

“Uh, is this, um, is this what I think it is..?” He carefully asked, holding up something that looked disturbingly like bondage gear.

“No,” Akamatsu responded immediately, “Miu’s... eccentric.” She picked up the pile of clothes and unceremoniously dumped it on the sole chair. Underneath, various tools and parts lay. “She likes to build stuff. I think this was what she was working on? I just grabbed whatever looked unfinished, honestly.”

“Why? ‘s not like she’s going to be using it while she’s asleep,” Momota commented.

She pouted. “I knowwww, but it’ll make the room feel less empty.”

 

She picked up one of the devices to put away, before pausing. “Oh, I think this was her... um... what did she call it? Something about folding clothes while you sleep?”

“Guess she’ll be able to do that then,” he joked.

“If it was finished, yeah,” she replied with a laugh, setting it down on the desk, “Unfortunately, I’ll be the one doing that.”

“Ah!” Chabashira jumped to attention. “Tenko’ll gladly help! Anything for Kaede-san and Iruma-san!”

 

Before Akamatsu could respond, the door was opened by Shinguuji, allowing Harukawa to carry Iruma and her medical equipment in.

“Greetings,” he said, closing the door behind him, “I’ve placed the medical supplies in the kitchen. Worry not for her well-being; the nurse explained her care routine to my rapt mind, so I am quite certain there will be no complications in taking care of her here.”

“That’s good,” Shuichi replied after a moment of deciphering Shinguuji’s odd word choice, “Should, um, should we learn how to do it too?”

“Please, leave it in my capable hands. You’ve all done your part in looking after her and contributing to our fight against the Shadows, so allow me return the favor.”

“If you insist...” He looked to Akamatsu, who hesitated but nodded in agreement.

 

“Well, now that that’s settled,” Momota interrupted loudly, “Shuichi! It’s time to head out for training!” He gave him a rough pat on the back.

“Ah, okay...”

Chabashira gave them a disgusted look, not that that was new. “Guh, men are so weird. I bet you’re training to do something perverted, huh?!”

Momota ignored her, wrapping an arm around Shuichi’s shoulders and practically pushing him out of the room.

 

Once they were outside, he paused. “Alright, so we’re gonna run a lap around the block, then I want you to do another by yourself while I do something. That cool?”

“Something? What? And how is that fair?”

“Don’t worry ‘bout it. It’ll make sense once you finish your laps, and then we’ll run one more lap together.”

“Wait, so I’m doing three?!”

He laughed Shuichi’s complaints off and urged him into running. The physical exertion thankfully dulled the edge of anxiety creeping up on him, especially once the first lap was complete and Momota disappeared off to do who knows what.

 

Not that he had to wait too long to find out. True to his word, by the time he rounded the corner again, Momota had returned outside, with-

“H-Harukawa-san?!”

She sighed, glancing to Momota. “I told you this was a bad idea.”

“Don’t say that! Shuichi’s fine with you now, isn’t that right?!” He gave him an expectant look.

“Um... Yes?” That wasn’t convincing, was it. “I mean, if it makes you feel any better, I just, well, I just don’t do well with people in general. Especially those that are more intense. Um.” He pulled his hat down. “Eye contact especially. It makes me nervous, no matter who it is. So it’s not entirely you?”

 

“See? Shuichi’s in agreement.” Momota beamed.

“Barely.” She tangled her fingers in one of her twintails. “Let’s just get this over with, then.”

“Are you training with us..?”

“Of course she is! In fact, I’ve already decided she’ll be an amazing sidekick, just like you and-” He wasn’t able to finish his bold declaration as Harukawa elbowed him in the chest.

“Don’t lump me together with all of you. I’m only here because you were annoying and running around the block will only take a minute.”

“H-Huh?” Momota looked baffled.

“Running isn’t exactly a good way of training _with_ her...” Shuichi mumbled, and he quickly snapped back to normal.

“Well then, sit-ups it is! C’mon, let’s get to it!”

 

Harukawa didn’t object to the change in plans. Shuichi’s body, however, did; he groaned as he tried to reach 10, already incredibly sore from the running. Momota also grunted, working up a visible sweat as he worked through his reps at a normal pace.

“So, how many are we doing?” Harukawa asked, unfazed despite having done at least 20 or 30 in the short time it took him to do 5, if not more.

Momota paused to answer. “Uhh, 100 sounds good.” No, no it did not. Unfortunately, Shuichi knew that complaining would get him nowhere with him.

 

A minute passed and Harukawa stopped, standing without a bead of sweat on her. “100. I’m done.”

Shuichi coughed. “R-Really?” He hadn’t even gotten to 20 yet.

Momota shot her a thumbs up. “Alright, great work! We normally do this on Tuesdays and Thursdays if we’re not going to Tartarus, so you better keep joining us! I’ll come get you if you try to skip!”

She sighed. “How annoying.” Despite her words, she didn’t look annoyed. She typically carried an air of tension around her, but Shuichi thought that she seemed more relaxed as she walked back inside.

 

“All right, back to it, Shuichi! Just 80 more to go!”

He groaned. “And how many have you done?! You should do 200 if it’s so easy.”

“W-Well,” he sputtered, “Maybe you can stop at 50 then, for doing the extra running.”

“You didn’t answer my question, Momota-kun.”

 

“Anyway-” He avoided Shuichi’s questioning by switching the topic. “Sorry for putting you on the spot, but teamwork’s important. There’s nothing worse than conflict brewing within a team.”

“Conflict? Did you think we were going to fight each other?” If he even _thought_ about fighting Harukawa, he was certain she’d break him in half with one hand.

“Not a physical fight, but if you keep avoiding each other, it’ll start to affect the rest of the dorm too. Forced to pick a side, who they’re gonna hang out with when you eventually don’t want to be in the same room... Don’t you think that’s just as bad?” Momota looked uncharacteristically serious.

 

He paused his reps, calming his breath to properly process his words. “I... didn’t think of it like that.”

He nodded. “So, I’m gonna show you that there’s nothing to be scared of, and I’m gonna show her that it’s okay to open up to us. That way, neither of you will have to do that, and it’ll all work out!”

He laughed softly. “If you say so, Momota-kun.”

“I know so! Now, let’s reach 100!”

“I thought you said 50?!”


	22. Retreat

The vague blur of Tartarus loomed over him. Shuichi blinked, only sparing it a brief glance as he headed inside. The space between the school gates and the tower’s large doors seemed to stretch as he walked down the path, the realization that he was alone slowly dawning on him. Somehow, that didn’t bother him.

 

He pushed open the doors and peered into the lobby; it was empty, predictably, but he felt some of the tension in his shoulders release regardless. He entered fully, letting the doors swing shut behind him as he further investigated the room. In the week that had passed since they fought the Emperor and Empress, any noticeable damage the two had done to the stairwell and the walls and floor had vanished. In fact, the only sign that a fight had taken place in the room at all was a single shoe, haphazardly lying on the ground. He immediately approached it and picked it up, before walking back to the door and tossing it out of the tower.

 

His vision grew fuzzy as he turned to the green device, slowly making his way over to it. The numbers on the panel were unreadable to him, but he knew he was headed to floor 36 as he reached out his hand to select it. Pressing it would send him to the floor in question, but-

 

But he wasn’t in Tartarus.

 

He was walking at a brisk pace through the strip mall, eyes scanning his surroundings warily. The coffin-littered streets were the only signs of life, but that didn’t stop him from being on edge, fingers wrapped around Harukawa’s radar device tightly. It showed nothing, but that was to be expected; only abnormally large signals would be picked up on with this useless piece of junk.

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his free hand. A headache was coming on. He turned and headed towards the station, heavy footsteps echoing off the walls. Blood-red puddles splashed angrily as he passed through them, soaking the boots he wore.

 

The headache intensified as he realized he didn’t recognize said boots. Dissonance pounded in his skull, warping the world around him into deep, impenetrable darkness. If he had been standing, the dizziness that settled upon him surely would’ve sent him tumbling over. Instead, he leaned back in his seat, looking out the window at the waning moon. Slender fingers drummed against the wooden desk, before his gaze moved back into the room’s interior.

 

Ah, he was in Iruma’s room. Of course. That was where he was supposed to be, right? Watching over her in case the Dark Hour woke her up. But, unfortunately, she showed no signs of change tonight either. He closed the notebook sitting in front of him, closing his eyes for a long moment.

When they opened again, Shuichi slowly sat up in his bed. He shifted uneasily, his mind scrambled as he tried to piece together the fragments of his dream. He reached for his phone to check the time; a little before 4am. Far too early to be dealing with confusion.

 

He threw his arm over his eyes and let sleep reclaim him well into the rest of Sunday morning.

 

* * *

**June 18, 201X - Dark Hour**

The extra sleep came in handy when they decided to go to Tartarus, inspired by the weird dream he’d had. Pumped up and full of energy, the four of them had no trouble breezing through the floors leading up to the barrier on 40. Momota and Chabashira were particularly energetic, rushing to defeat the Shadows before Shuichi could land a single hit. If they weren’t being so efficient and avoiding getting hurt, he’d almost think they were being a bit too reckless.

The floors lying on the other side of the barrier were little different from the ones before. The hallways were still a murky purple-green, and of course still full of Shadows that seemed to get stronger the higher they climbed.

 

Not that the two physical attackers on their team would admit that.

 

“Ha, this is easy,” Momota commented as he stabbed a floating Dice, ignoring the sweat dripping down his face from attempting to take the stairs up three at a time.

“Well, this is so easy, it doesn’t even deserve to be called easy,” Chabashira retorted, bashing a Maya in its face and reducing it to goop, “More like ‘beginner’, but I guess for you it would seem like ‘easy’.” Oh no. Shuichi knew where this was going.

“What?! What does that mean?!”

“Exactly what you think it does, _menace!”_

Shuichi and Akamatsu shared a look. “Um, I don’t think you should be fighting...”

 

They ignored him and the very real threat slithering up in favor of glaring at each other. So, without warning, a large Snake with Venus and Mars symbols wrapped around its neck lunged forward, digging its long fangs into Chabashira’s arm. She cried out in shock, but as Momota moved to help her, it released, a strange liquid dripping from its mouth like venom. Shuichi swallowed nervously.

“Are you alright?” Momota asked, but he received no verbal response. Instead, Chabashira jabbed him in the stomach with her staff, causing him to kneel over in pain.

“Tenko-san!” Akamatsu shouted with a stern look. “What are you doing?!” She received no response either, only a blank stare and an aura of intent to attack not only Momota, but the two of them as well.

 

So, Shuichi acted entirely on impulse.

 

“We need to run!” Grabbing Akamatsu’s hand, he sharply pulled her into fleeing alongside him, ignoring the shout of alarm from Momota. Behind them, the normally dark halls lit up as the Shadow screeched. He glanced back, only to regret it as an excruciating pain surfaced behind his eyes from the intensity of the light. Yeah, screw that; this Shadow was way too dangerous to fight!

“W-Wait, Saihara-kun!” Akamatsu twisted her hand, clearly wanting to go back to help them.

“They’ll be fine!” He had to believe that, else she and Shuichi would get themselves killed trying to protect them.

 

It took some waiting at the stairs up, but eventually the two abandoned members rejoined them, looking unhappy at the turn of events as they were patched up.

“Tenko apologizes for scaring you, Kaede-san,” Chabashira started, “I just- my head got so foggy and I don’t know what happened.”

“Where’s mine and Shuichi’s apology?” Momota grumbled, clutching his stomach. She pointedly ignored him.

“It’s...” Akamatsu sighed, clearly wanting to say “it’s fine”, but... “No, it’s not fine. I don’t understand why the two of you are acting like this. Tartarus is too dangerous for infighting.”

 

They slumped at her scolding, apologizing further. She shook her head at them, turning to head up the stairs. Shuichi quickly followed, starting to feel awkward in the rising tension. The next floor - floor 47 - was a checkpoint, thankfully. Akamatsu paused by the device, then turned into the hallway next to it.

“Um, Akamatsu-san?”

She looked back at them. “You’re all still feeling fine, right?” None of them objected. “Then let’s just get it over with.” There was a layer of frustration in her tone that Shuichi wasn’t sure he liked. But he didn’t have time to comment, as she and the others continued down the hall towards their unknown enemy.

 

Three Beetles, covered in gold and with large, royal crowns on their heads, greeted them at the next intersection, swaying from side to side as if in anticipation of their arrival. And once they drew close enough for the trio of guardians to consider the challenge to fight accepted, they buzzed their wings together in harmony, the dim lighting bouncing off the elaborate design on their shells.

Then, they were upon the group, scurrying closer much faster than any of them could have anticipated. Momota and Chabashira surged forward as well, no bickering between them as their focus closed in on the battle.

 

Shuichi only got a handful of shots in before he noticed that the two weren’t doing much damage. He glanced to Akamatsu to see if she had similar concerns, but she was just doing whatever she was doing on her piano with no obvious concern. Was he overthinking it?

He tried to shake it off and look back to the fight, but in the few seconds he’d been distracted, one of the two was chucked across the room by a Beetle’s horn. Directly at him. They collided, sending Shuichi to the floor and to a world of pain. He had all of five seconds to process it was Chabashira and defensively cover his face in panic.

 

But she didn’t spring up and lash out like he expected her to. In fact, she appeared to be knocked out cold.

“Um, ah, Akamatsu-san?” He croaked out, trying to shift her weight off of him. She didn’t react to his call until the second time he tried, jerking out of her piano trace.

“O-Oh, Tenko-san!” She rushed towards them, and seconds later, Momota hit the wall she had been standing next to. He crumbled to the floor, obviously unconscious as well. Akamatsu looked between them and then met Shuichi’s worried eyes, biting her lip. The Beetles fluttered their wings as they advanced, the front line of defense against them now gone.

 

There was nothing that could be done; they were going to have to pull back. The problem was getting Momota out safely when it would take two people to move him. His mind spun, but he quickly decided. “Akamatsu-san, you’re going to have to take Chabashira-san to the device. I’ll protect Momota-kun.” He pulled her up, giving Akamatsu a pleading look as she hesitated.

“Al-Alright, be safe.” She shifted Chabashira from his shoulder to hers, dragging her down the hall as quickly as she could manage. Shuichi turned, adrenaline and anxiety mixing crudely in his veins. At this point, any strategy that came to mind was going to have to do.

 

The most important thing was to keep their attention off Momota. He fired at them, keeping an eye on his unconscious friend as he slowly drifted towards the opposite wall. The Shadows appeared to have little interest in Momota, scuttling around to try to corner him in. He had to duck as the first one attempted to pierce him with the mask on the end of its horn. With all the spikes coming off it, Shuichi was certain that could’ve been a death blow. Tartarus never failed to remind him how dangerous it could really be. In the rapid thoughts flickering through his mind as he dodged, he had to wonder why they were even bothering climbing in the first place.

 

He was beginning to truly panic when he finally heard footsteps echoing off the walls.

“Saihara-kun!” Akamatsu shouted as she ran back towards them, “Come on!”

He wasted no time running back to her side, continuing to fire shots towards the Beetles to keep them at bay. Only when he had to pull Momota onto his back did he finally cease, hoping they wouldn’t catch up to them as Akamatsu grabbed his legs and hauled him off the ground, fleeing as fast as they could manage. Momota groaned at their unsteady rhythm, prompting Shuichi to tighten his grip in case he started moving.

 

All the energy in him collapsed as soon as they exited onto the first floor, sending him back to the floor with Momota falling on top of him. Chabashira lay a few meters away, slowly blinking back into awareness. He noticed tears streaming down Akamatsu’s face as she lifted her off the ground and out of Tartarus.

 

“Are you okay?” He asked once she’d returned, beginning to recover from the physical exertions the fight demanded from him.

She shook her head. “I’m sorry, I- I thought we were ready. And then, I got so focused trying to negatively affect the Shadows in some way that I wasn’t paying attention to you three at all.” Her hands trembled as she began to help lift Momota’s weight off of him.

“It’s, it’s not your fault. We thought we were ready too; we wouldn’t have gone along with it otherwise...” Probably. He had to admit he just went with the flow most of the time. But the other two clearly felt that way, though he wasn’t sure that held up when they’d been overconfident all night.

 

“I- I don’t-” She choked out once they were outside, sitting on the ground to wait for help, “I don’t think I should be the leader anymore.”


	23. Conductor

**June 19, 201X - 12:12pm**

A torrent of rain flooded the rooftop, trapping the three of them in the stairwell during their impromptu lunchtime meeting. Momota had decided that they needed to talk about the situation with Akamatsu and practically dragged him and Chabashira upstairs. Honestly, Shuichi thought Momota was lucky to still have both of his arms. Them both being utterly exhausted from their wipeout in Tartarus was the only thing that saved him from her anger at being touched by a “degenerate male”.

 

“... so, we gotta figure out how to convince her that it was our bad, not hers!” He finished enthusiastically.

Surprisingly, Chabashira nodded along in agreement. “I don’t like to admit it, but I  _ was _ being a bit reckless last night... If it wasn’t for that, Kaede-san wouldn’t have been so distracted.”

“Exactly! So-”

“I don’t think that’s entirely it,” Shuichi interrupted. He hated to be the one to burst their bubble, but... “It has to be incredibly stressful being responsible for our lives. I think this was something that was bound to happen eventually, no matter what we did.”

Momota’s face twisted in frustration. “Then what are we supposed to do?”

 

“I don’t know,” he answered honestly, “I think if we give her some time away from the leader role, it might help...”

“Well...” Momota rested his face on his palm, drumming his fingers against his cheek. “In the meantime, we’ll still need someone to fill in for her. We can’t go to Tartarus without a leader. Or shouldn’t, at least.”

“Right, but who?” He was almost prepared to nominate Momota despite his occasional rashness, but he wanted to see what the other two thought first.

 

The two were silent for a moment, before answering simultaneously.

“You, of course!”

“We should ask Harukawa-san to- wait!” Chabashira glared at Momota’s suggestion. “Saihara-san?! He looks like he could barely lead his way out of a paper bag, let alone handle that kind of stress!”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Shuichi weakly laughed, “Um, but I do agree... I don’t think I’d be a good fit.”

“Nonsense! I can tell you have what it takes to fill in for the time being! You saved our lives last night after all!”

 

An overwhelming pressure settled on his shoulders at Momota’s eager, expectant look. “Well, true, but... But I also left you both behind to die minutes beforehand, remember? I... I don’t think that’s a good sign...”

Chabashira shook her head. “See? He’s so wishy-washy, I refuse to take orders from him. Not that I would take orders from a degenerate in the first place, even if Saihara-san’s not as bad as some.”

Momota pinched the bridge of his nose. “He’s not confident  _ because _ he hasn’t had the opportunity to build that confidence. And  _ you _ don’t have to listen to him; I can trust Shuichi enough for the both of us. Sure, he’s made some mistakes, but he’s got a steady head on his shoulders when it comes down to it.”

Shuichi felt his face flush at the excessive praise. “I, um, I appreciate that, but...”

 

“No buts!” Momota countered, “You’re getting my vote and that’s that. We can talk to Harukawa if you want, Chabashira, but at the end of the day I’m certain Akamatsu’ll vote for him to step in for her too.”

“When did this become a vote? Besides, I know Kaede-san will take my side,” she huffed in response, but she didn’t disagree with having a vote. Shuichi just wanted the spotlight off him already and quickly changed the topic to something not-Tartarus related. Dread for the night to come swirled inside him.

 

* * *

**6:50pm**

“Sorry, but I have no interest in climbing Tartarus,” Harukawa responded, dismissive of Chabashira’s plea for her to take over leadership.

“But why?! Aren’t you curious as to what’s in there?!”

“Not really.”

“W-Well, um, wouldn’t it be useful so you can stay in shape and get stronger?”

“I already stay in shape. Plus, the Shadows run away from me, so I don’t know how you expect me to get stronger from enemies that are that much weaker than I am.” When none of the four of them had an immediate rebuttal, she sighed. “Are we done?”

 

“Um, wait.” Shuichi struggled to form a cohesive argument in his mind. “We’re not really asking for your help in fighting, per se, just, um, as a strategist? You have a lot more experience, so it would make sense that you should be our go-to for a new leader...”

“So you just want advice?”

He averted his gaze as she met his eyes. “Yes? I know you don’t care about Tartarus, but as it stands, it’s really our only reliable method of training. And the Shadows on the lower floors are scared of us now, so it’s only a matter of time before the ones on the higher floors are too. So it’s important that we keep pushing upwards so that we can, um, so that we don’t plateau like you have.”

 

She waited a long moment before responding. “Fine. But I won’t act as leader; I’m not the type of person that works well with others, so figuring out what to do inside Tartarus is your problem. I’ll give advice, but unless things get dire, I don’t think I’ll be fighting at all; it’d be counterproductive to your training.”

“Alright!” Momota cheered, “So, Shuichi, looks like you’re up for our temp leader! Great going, I knew you could do it!”

“Well, if there’s no other choice...” Chabashira growled. Shuichi swallowed the urge to apologize for being forced into a position he wasn’t sure he was capable of handling.

 

“Anyway,” Harukawa began, redirecting the conversation, “You said you wanted advice, so ask.” She looked to him pointedly.

“Ah, right. The, the Beetle Shadows- um, you know what those are, right?” At her nod, he continued. “There’s three of them on the floor we were defeated on. How, how do you normally fight them?”

She paused, thinking. “They have high defense, especially against weapons like Momota and Chabashira’s. But you’d probably be able to do more damage if you were to flip them onto their backs. Focus on one at a time; the quicker you thin their numbers, the easier it’ll be to avoid getting overwhelmed.”

 

So like their first battle against the Eagles, he mused. They hadn’t focused on fighting them one by one on purpose, but that’d more or less been the strategy they used. Reframing their dilemma like that helped ease some of the worry off his shoulders. If this was the direction his friendship(?) with Harukawa was going to go in, well, he wouldn’t complain, that was for sure.

 

* * *

**June 21, 201X - 5:01pm**

“Good evening, Saihara-kun,” Shinguuji greeted as Shuichi stepped into Iruma’s room, turning away from his laptop and textbook to engage in conversation. Unfortunately, his presence in the room was quickly drowned out in Shuichi’s mind as his sweeping gaze fell on the third, unexpected occupant of the room.

“Oh, Ouma-kun?”

He hopped off of Iruma’s bed with a grin. “Hello, Saihara-chan! I’m just visiting!”

Shinguuji was quick to address his growing confusion. “He somehow snuck in when I stepped out to use the bathroom a short while ago. He promised to be quiet, however, so I have permitted him to stay until dinner.”

 

“I... I see.” He should really stop being surprised by this, huh. He finally closed the door behind him, asking, “Are you worried about Iruma-san too, then?”

“No, not really. I just thought she deserved at least  _ one _ visit from me while she’s playing hooky from school.” He sniffled. “Geez, it’s so cruel of her to leave me all alone in class; now whose notes am I supposed to look off of when I get bored and doze off?”

Shuichi paused. Then turned to Shinguuji, deciding not to feed Ouma’s attention-seeking lies. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I was wanting to talk to you for a bit about my findings.”

“Please, it would be my pleasure to converse with you; I’ve been meaning to come find you as well. Allow me go acquire my notes from my dorm.”

 

He could feel Ouma pouting into his back as Shinguuji quickly exited and returned, notebooks in hand. “If I recall correctly, last month we discussed the possible linkage between these Full Moon Shadows and the Apathy Syndrome victims.”

“Yes, that’s right.” He nodded.

Ouma hummed in interest. “So, you decided to investigate it after all?”

He hesitated. “Not intentionally. It just... happened to overlap with our Dark Hour investigation.” He shook his head. “Anyway, Shinguuji-kun, did the number of victims also drop off after the 9th?”

“They did indeed, look.” He passed the notebook over, graph almost identical to the one before. “I also acquired numbers from late-March early-April that followed the same pattern.”

 

Ouma hopped to his feet, looking over Shuichi’s shoulder. “So this has happened three times, then? Shadows like the Emperor and Empress?”

His mind stuttered. “Ah, I, I was wondering... Why do you call them that?”

He blinked. “It was the name I thought of. Nothing more than that.”

“Okay, but...” He licked his lips nervously. “But I also thought those exact names...”

“Coincidence. I mean, they certainly looked the part.”

 

Shinguuji was oddly silent for a moment, turning and leafing through the Shadow notebook until he landed on the two Shadows in question. “Interesting. I believe I’ve established a connection between these Full Moon Shadows.”

“Oh?” Shuichi abandoned his confusion to pay closer attention.

“The description of them I was given included these Roman numerals, yes?” He pointed to their masks. “If the one with three is Empress and the one with four is Emperor, then it would be a logical deduction that these follow the major arcana of a tarot deck.”

“Tarot?”

 

Shinguuji shifted to his laptop, pulling up a series of images after a quick search. “From the description of the one you fought in May, I can infer that it is most likely following the Rider-Waite deck. Please, take a look at the High Priestess.” He clicked on an image.

He paused, letting it sink in. Black and white pillars, a woman in the center... “Oh. Oh wow. The Shadow  _ did _ look a lot like that.”

“Indeed, that is what I concluded as well.” He turned to its page and neatly wrote out “Priestess” above it. “Now, I have little information on the one from April, but I believe it would be safe to assume it was the Magician.”

 

“There’s 22 cards in the major arcana,” Ouma spoke up, “Will they have to fight all of them?” Dread settled in his stomach at the question.

“Depending on if the Fool is placed at the beginning or the end, it could be 21 or 22, yes. Assuming it goes through the entire deck. Hopefully it won’t come to that, however. There is, in fact, another stopping point in the deck.”

“And that is...?”

“If the Shadows in Tartarus are anything to go off of, their masks appear to only range from one to twelve. So, this would draw the conclusion that a Shadow representing the Hanged Man would be the last.

 

“Of course, this would make some level of sense, as the card following it signifies the end. The Card with No Name, Death.”


	24. Leadership

**June 22, 201X - 4:10pm**

Unwillingly, his first act as elected fill-in leader was to inform Akamatsu of the decision. Pulling her aside and heading out to Chagall Cafe was oddly reminiscent of the similar talk he’d been pushed into having with her only a month earlier. Had it really only been a month? It felt like so long ago.

 

“So, um, it’s been a few days since we went to Tartarus,” he began once they were seated with their drinks, “And, um, I was talking with the others and-”

“You want to convince me that it’s not my fault and that I shouldn’t give up being leader, right?” She interrupted with a sigh, “I’m sorry, but I’ve made my decision.”

“That’s not it at all.” He swallowed nervously. “I mean, it wasn’t entirely your fault, so you shouldn’t beat yourself up, but... I understand that you don’t want that pressure on you.” He certainly didn’t like the pressure put on himself.

 

She shook her head. “You’re too nice, Saihara-kun.” He remained silent as she drummed her fingers against the table. “So, what did you talk about then?”

“They asked me to take up leadership.” He left out the “for now”; implying that it was temporary would only stress her further. As would saying that he was more or less forced into the position. “Ah, if that’s okay with you, of course. We asked Harukawa-san first, but she wasn’t interested...” He quickly relayed the results of that conversation. She nodded along as he spoke.

 

“This plan,” she began once he was finished, “Do you think it’ll work?”

He hesitated. “Probably. Um.” He tugged at the brim of his cap. “I think we’ll be okay? Last time wasn’t exactly normal, so when we’re rested up and ready, it’ll hopefully go better.” In the back of his mind, he could almost hear Momota yelling at him to be more confident. He attempted to shove down the bubbling anxiety in his chest. “Let’s, let’s talk about your, um, your piano support. The front line has a strategy made, so we should make one for you too.”

 

She hummed, placing her head on her palm. “Well, I can heal, obviously. But... I think that when I play songs with a lot of clashing tones, it’s distracting to the enemies. So, when their defenses are down, that would be a good opportunity to strike and deal a lot of damage.”

Shuichi blinked. “Ah, you’re right; that would be really useful. That could give Momota-kun and Chabashira-san the opening they need to flip them over.” He paused. “Um, do you think you have any other advice? I mean, you led us for longer, so...”

She gave him a long look before responding. “Saihara-kun, I think you’ll do great. Momota-kun has a point when he says confidence is more important than being the strongest, or the smartest, or whatever.”

 

He felt his face flush at her pep talk. This always happened, didn’t it? He would try to help her feel better, but she’d end up being the one doing the cheering up. Despite everything, he knew for certain that she would remain the positive drive in their group. “Thank you, Akamatsu-san, I’ll be sure not to let you all down. You can count on me.”

“Good, because if we couldn’t then I’d have to ask Tenko-san to handle it, and you know how that would end,” she playfully teased.

“Ah, yeah, that would be pretty bad,” he quietly laughed, letting the tension seep out of his body as their conversation drifted away from piling pressure onto him.

 

* * *

**June 24, 201X - Dark Hour**

Somehow, just increasing the group from four to five made Tartarus’ lobby seem more crowded. Harukawa quietly and quickly assessed the room, taking barely a minute before approaching the device and triggering the floor select.

“Floor 59, huh. You’ve climbed pretty high.”

“Oh, um,” he stuttered as he drew closer, “That’s, that’s um, that’s probably Ouma-kun’s progress... We’re on 47 right now.”

Her gaze darkened. “I see.” She pursed her lips and pressed the lower floor, her other hand curled into a fist.

 

As they passed through to the 47th floor one by one, he tried to push Harukawa’s apparent annoyance out of his mind. He had to focus on leading now. “Is everyone ready?” He asked, looking between his three friends.

“Yeah, all good here.” Momota shot him a thumbs up. “Don’t worry, we got it for sure this time.” The other two nodded in agreement.

“Right.” He let out a shaky breath. “Let’s go then.” They crept around the corner, finding the Beetles exactly as they left them. They went through the ritual of fluttering their wings rapidly, as if preparing for the fight themselves.

 

“Momota-kun, Chabashira-san, once Akamatsu-san distracts them, that’s when you’ll strike. Until then-”

“Tenko remembers, let’s just get to it!” She and Momota summoned their weapons, taking a defensive stance as they waited for their cue. Shuichi glanced over to Akamatsu. When she met his eyes, she nodded, and her fingers slammed down on the piano keys surrounding her.

“Clashing tones” was a gentle description of the sound it emitted. A discordant wail bounced off the walls, the air seeming to quiver from the volume.

 

The air wasn’t the only thing to quiver; the Beetles froze momentarily, shivering and bowing their heads to draw away from the noise. Time to see if their plan would actually work.

Chabashira lunged forward, Momota at her heels as they drove their weapons underneath one and pushed, overturning it. It screeched as it crashed into its fellow Shadow, horns catching together as it flailed its spiny legs in the air. Shuichi kept his eyes on the third, firing a few shots to keep it distracted from the ruthlessly attacking of the now-exposed underside of the first. With the strategy successfully implemented, the first one fell faster than expected. Relief washed over him at the sight.

 

“Okay, um, let’s take down the one I’ve been hitting next,” he called out, and they quickly switched targets, moving in near unison to knock that Beetle over as well. It wised up, however, and desperately fluttered its wings to keep itself balanced on two legs.

“Damn,” Momota grunted, forced to keep pushing the flat end of his blade against the Shadow to keep it from being able to get back down. Chabashira was stuck in a similar bind with her staff. Behind then, the second Beetle crept up.

Shuichi’s mind spun. One of them needed to attack-

 

Or did they? The Empress fight replayed in his mind; if they could incorporate one strategy from earlier, why not another?

“Both of you, you need to let it fall when I say move, okay?” He shouted, and they gave him uneasy looks in response.

“What? Why?”

He glanced quickly between them and the mobile Beetle. “Just trust me, okay? You just- you just need to move... now!” He ordered as it pulled back its horn to attempt to skewer them. They thankfully jumped, and its spiked mask stabbed into the third Beetle as it fell. The result wasn’t what he expected, however; while some damage was done to its exposed abdomen, more damage fell upon the second’s mask, shattering it and reducing its body down to the goop that the first already was.

 

After that, finishing off the already weakened third was more than easy. It was almost hard to believe that they’d gotten wiped nearly a week earlier. He let out a quiet sigh as the adrenaline died down.

“Not bad,” Harukawa commented, pulling herself off the wall from where she’d been observing the battle, “Let’s get going though; if you want me to climb with you, you’re going to have to actually climb.”

“R-Right...” He led them down the hall and up the stairs into the uncertain floors to come.

 

* * *

They reached the next checkpoint with surprisingly little trouble. The Shadows that appeared were all ones that they’d seen before, though occasionally different colored and - of course - stronger than they’d been previously. Still, he wouldn’t complain; anything that made his first night as leader easier was fine by him.

So they stepped out into the 59th floor, greeted with a horse’s drawn out whinny and a Shadow’s frustrated shrieks. Instinctively, the four that weren’t Harukawa drew closer together, ready to protect one another or run at a moment’s notice.

 

Harukawa was predictable unfazed. “Sounds like a Knight Shadow. Don’t worry, it’s-” She paused. “Well, it’s not as bad as fighting multiple Beetles. Come on.” She pulled ahead, towards where the device and guardian Shadow would be.

Shuichi started to follow, then froze. “Wait, are we fighting it tonight?”

“We might as well,” she replied, “If you don’t want to, I’ll just do it myself.”

Akamatsu frowned. “Wait, are you still upset that Ouma-kun beat us here?”

At her suggestion, Chabashira gasped. “Harukawa-san, it’s okay! You don’t need to let what that degenerate menace does bother you-”

 

“I’m not upset or bothered,” she replied with a blank look, “But I don’t like wasting my time, and I know if you get this floor cleared then you probably won’t need me until the next floor like this.”

Her reasoning made sense, but Shuichi’d be a pretty bad detective if he couldn’t see that she was deflecting the mention of Ouma off. He was more inclined to believe Akamatsu’s explanation, not that he’d vocalize that consent in Harukawa’s presence.

“Well, I don’t mind,” Momota chimed in, “I learned my lesson last time; if we’re getting overwhelmed, we’ll pull back sooner, right Chabashira?”

She huffed an agreement, clearly not wanting to agree with  _ him _ but having no choice, since she was clearly in favor of whatever Harukawa wanted to do and he was just agreeing with her.

 

“Well, if you’re sure...” It was clear he and Akamatsu were outvoted. Did “leader” actually mean anything once Harukawa was in the picture? Despite her objections to the role, it appeared as if she was taking over it anyway. Again, not that he’d complain, but still. He shared an uncertain look with Akamatsu before allowing the other three to lead the way towards this “Knight”.

 

Which turned out to be a very accurate name, he discovered as they approached it, an Emperor-masked, lance-wielding figure atop a legless horse. Both were armored in a medieval fashion, and both seemed  _ very _ agitated.

“It looks enraged,” Harukawa reported, “Good, that’ll make this easy.”

“Easy?” He stuttered, “How is enraged ‘easy’?”

She sighed. “Do you seriously know nothing about Shadow behavior, even after 60 floors? When Shadows are enraged, they take more damage and completely stop attacking with magic skills. You don’t like being attacked with fire, right?”

Shuichi flinched as their fear was so bluntly addressed. “Um, okay, sorry. You’re right.” He didn’t have any time to further the conversation, as the Shadow noticed them and charged. He barely had time to shout “move”, running out of the way to avoid getting hit.

 

When he turned back to face it, gun at the ready, Harukawa was already attacking it, the shot from her crossbow leaving a noticeable crack in its mask. Some small part of him almost felt afraid at the obvious power difference between the rest of them and her.

But he shook it off, joining his teammates in throwing themselves into the battle to assist her. As she said, their attacks clearly did more damage than normal, leaving gaping holes and cuts from each blow. As fast as the battle had begun, it was over, as if it wasn’t a guardian Shadow at all.

 

“Wow, that was great, Harumaki!” Momota shouted as she landed the final blow, running over to give her a pat on the back. She quickly flinched away, letting her weapon disappear as she did so. Chabashira non-discreetly glared at him from across the room.

“What did you just call me? And don’t get used to it, I’m not going to fight your battles for you.” She sighed, pulling out an egg timer from her pocket and checking it. “Anyway, we have 17 minutes left. It’s your call what we do.”

“Let’s keep going, then,” Shuichi suggested, trying not to panic when the group gave him incredulous looks, “It’s, it’s just a theory I have, but, um, remember last month? There were only two guardians, then we hit another barrier. And the barrier is only a few small floors away from the checkpoint, usually, so it’ll probably be pretty quick. If we climb a few floors and it doesn’t show, then we can find a device and leave.”

 

He was relieved when the group relaxed and agreed with his deduction, and sure enough, after a few floors they found the next barrier, calmly waiting to be unlocked on the 64th floor.

Once Momota finished congratulating his “awesome detective skills”, he continued his train of thought. “I think these unlock after we defeat the Full Moon Shadows. That’s the only thing that makes sense.” He rested his chin in his palm. “But I suppose that makes sense, to link them with Tartarus’ existence as well... But still, I wonder why this all exists in the first place.”

“Beats me,” Harukawa sighed, “Anyway, you made it up here, so you’re done for the next few weeks, right? You won’t need my help if you want to train, so see you.” She swiftly crossed over to the device and entered it, disappearing from sight.

 

Momota scratched the back of his head. “Geez, she’s hardheaded. But it’s good that she’s joining us at least sometimes, right?” He polled the rest of the group with a grin.

“Ah, I suppose...” He responded, “Let’s get going, too. It’s almost time.” As they filed into the exit device, he spared the barrier one last look, trying to ignore the many questions flickering through his mind.


	25. Information

**June 28, 201X - 3:48pm**

Aikido practice being moved outdoors for the day would’ve been calming, if not for Chabashira’s excited yelling in his ear as she cycled through her kata. Where was the elusive meditation in these club meetings? Shuichi briefly wondered if she would notice if he pulled away to attempt that elsewhere.

“Saihara-san! You need to get your body moving!” Predictably, his thoughts were interrupted by her attention turning to him. “The more Aikido in your soul, the more I’ll be able to accept your leadership!”

“Ah, really..?” That was news to him. She hadn’t been hostile in Tartarus, true, but her stance on men was, well...

“Men that earnestly practice Aikido aren’t like other degenerates!” She hesitated. “So, so I can tell that you’ll be an okay leader, probably...” She trailed off, before bouncing back. “But you can’t slack in your training! That’s an even worse offense than eating too many sweets!”

 

“Noisy as always, huh Chabashira,” a deep voice cut in. Shuichi turned to see one of the tennis club members had wandered over. He wore a beanie that he had trouble deciding if it was more demonic-like or cat-like, posture more hunched than Shuichi’d been in his entire life. From his soft, round face, it was almost hard to believe that such a voice belonged to him, but there was no one else it could be.

“Of course!” Chabashira responded. “Yelling is an important part of channeling energy! Not that I’d expect you to know, Hoshi-senpai.” Ah, so this was the famous tennis captain Hoshi Ryoma, then. Shuichi was expecting something different, though he kept his thoughts to himself as he awaited his reaction to her passive aggressive words.

 

Instead of getting offended, however, he chuckled. “Drop the honorifics, I don’t need ‘em.” He directed his gaze to Shuichi, looking him over. “You’re Saihara, right? I’ve seen you hanging around Momota.”

“Ah, um, that’s right.”

He nodded. “He brags about you a lot. The brains of the group, huh.” He tugged at his beanie, not appearing to expect an answer. “Don’t let him push you around too much. Or anyone, for that matter. I could see the lack of confidence in you from the other side of the field.” He sent a pointed glance in Chabashira’s direction.

“I’ll keep that in mind?” He hesitantly responded, “Thanks?”

“Don’t mention it. Was just some unsolicited advice from a guy who barely knows you.” He tugged his hat down further.

 

“So, Hoshi... -san,” Chabashira started after a brief moment of silence, clearly uncomfortable addressing him without any honorifics at all, “Why did you come over here?”

He sighed, reaching into his varsity jacket to pull out- was that a cigarette?! Shuichi glanced around nervously as Hoshi stuck it in his mouth, thankfully not lighting it. “Just bored. The others would rather stand around and gossip than practice. Figured I might as well step away and let them get that out of their system before trying to start for real.”

Chabashira tsked. “The degenerates on the Aikido team do that too. At least Saihara-san _pretends_ to try to practice seriously.”

“Pretends?!” Did she really think that he didn’t care?!

“That’s a joke, probably,” Hoshi commented at his outburst, “Never thought I’d see the day Chabashira willingly stayed within two meters of a guy.”

“Well, Tenko _supposes_ he’s not _awful...”_ She was being nice today. That was, well, nice.

 

He glanced back at the tennis team, giving Momota a small wave when their eyes met. He seemed to be being somewhat productive. “So, what sort of gossip’s going around now? I know I heard some people talking about expulsions a week or so ago...”

“Heard ‘bout that. One of them was on the team, disappointed that one of my players was involved in that. Harassment or something, right?” Shuichi nodded, and Hoshi sighed, shaking his head. “But they’re all talking ‘bout some Apathy Syndrome victims that’ve been popping up. Guess they’ve all been couples.” He reached up to fidget with his beanie further.

“Couples?” He shifted through his mind, trying to figure out why that sounded familiar. The news? Ah, yes- “You mean like the ones they found near Shirakawa Boulevard?”

 

Chabashira sputtered. “Shirakawa Boulevard?! That, that disgusting degenerate place?!”

He blinked. “Um, what’s wrong with-”

“It’s where all the love hotels are,” Hoshi bluntly stated.

“Oh.” That explained why it was gossip material then. But as far as they could tell, Apathy Syndrome appeared to be caused by the Dark Hour and Shadows, so... Hm...

“This is why you should never go anywhere alone with a boy, let alone a hotel!” Chabashira, however, didn’t seem to make the connection. “Touching a menace for even a second can drain a girl of her strength!”

 

Both of them silently agreed to not respond to that.

 

* * *

**July 4, 201X - 7:50pm**

“47... 48... 49... 50,” Shuichi gasped out, letting his body collapse as his last push-up was finished. Harukawa, who’d finished many minutes beforehand, shook her head at his blatant lack of strength. On the other hand, Momota was as celebratory of his minor accomplishments as always.

“Great work, I think you finished earlier this time!” He shot him a thumbs up, making Shuichi feel slightly better about the whole thing. However...

“At least you did them, unlike Momota,” Harukawa brusquely stated.

“Hey, I told you, I did them earlier!” He loudly retorted, “I could easily have done another 50, but I wanted to, uh, to make sure that Shuichi’s form was all right! If you’re not doing push-ups correctly, it’s no help at all!”

She sighed at his frankly terrible excuse, refusing to argue further.

 

“Um, well...” Shuichi decided to try to break the tension. “So, Harukawa-san, if it’s okay to ask... How long have you been fighting Shadows? You seem to know a lot about them, so...”

She glanced at him, then away. “Sorry, I’d rather not talk about that. Long enough.”

“Man, you’re always so secretive,” Momota sighed, “Guess longer than a year’s a pretty good assumption. Akamatsu’s said before that by the time she moved into the dorm, you were already doin’ all this, and that was well over a year ago.”

“Sure.” She didn’t react to the prod for more discussion.

Shuichi bit his lip, before deciding to try a different topic. “So, um, you said before that Shadows have certain behaviors? Would you tell me, um, us more about that?”

She paused, straightening out her skirt. “Fine.

 

“You already saw ‘rage’, but I’ll elaborate. Enraged Shadows hit harder, physically, but their aim is poor and they leave themselves wide open for attacks. Honestly, I’d rather fight an enraged Shadow than a normal one any day.

“Shadows are very connected with the human psyche, so don’t be surprised if one day you end up inflicted with rage yourself. Sometimes they prefer to break you from the inside out using psychological attacks.” She clenched her fists. “They can confuse you, make you fearful of everything around you, even make it difficult to discern friend from foe, tricking you into acting in their benefit.

“Though perhaps tricking isn’t the right word. It’s like you black out, body becoming little more than a puppet manipulated by the Shadow’s desires. Shinguuji’s taken to calling this state ‘charmed’ by the Shadows.”

 

In the brief pause that she made to compose her thoughts, Momota spoke up, “Hey, I think that happened to Chabashira, remember?”

Now that he mentioned it- “Yeah, you’re right. She said that her head got fuzzy after that Snake bit her.”

“You’re lucky you’re not dead. At your current strength, Snakes could easily kill you if you let your guard down, especially if they turned you against each other.” Harukawa always had to come in with the harsh truths. Not that them being a serious threat was new information to either of them.

 

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Momota scratched the back of his head. “But anyway, it’s good to know more about them, right Shuichi? After all, it’ll make your job easier if you know more about your enemy.”

“Ah, right.”

He smiled. “That’s my sidekick.” He hopped to his feet, extending a hand to Harukawa to help pull her up. She ignored it, smoothly pulling herself up without assistance. Shuichi followed suit, glad that they were getting out of the heat.

 

Upon returning inside, Harukawa was quick to leave, crossing the first floor to head upstairs, presumably to go to her room. Momota shook his head, but didn’t seem upset or discouraged at her behavior. “You know, I think I’m getting through to her, Shuichi! What do you think?”

Was he really? “Ah, um, I suppose? What makes you say that?”

“I mean.” He grinned. “She’s still coming to our training sessions, even if she’s acting a bit cold about it.”

“You stood in front of her door for fifteen minutes pounding on it,” he pointed out in response.

“Well, yeah, but last week it was twenty! And at the beginning, it was half an hour! She’s obviously warming up to us!”

“Or she’s just learning that it’s quicker to tolerate the sessions than deal with your determination.”

 

His quiet joke caused Momota to sputter, “Hey, are you saying that my sessions are only tolerable?! I thought you enjoyed them! They’re useful!”

“Ah, well...” He backtracked, “They’re useful to me, but not to her maybe? She’s already pretty strong, it seems...”

“Nonsense! There’s more to training than just physical strength!” His expression turned oddly serious. “It helps build emotional strength too. You might not be able to see, but I can tell that she needs to open up. If not...”

“If not?”

 

He was silent for a moment. “Do you know what the most important skill is, Shuichi?”

“Um...”

“Communication. If you can’t communicate clearly and productively, then groups fall apart faster than you can fix them.” He sighed. “And, well, I know I haven’t been doing well on that lately, so obviously I need to work overtime in building that back up!” As his sentence wrapped up, he jumped back into his normal cheerful self, but his words stuck in Shuichi’s heart.

“I see. Well, if there’s anything I can do to help, let me know.” He gave Momota a smile, receiving a laugh in response.

“Thanks, Shuichi, but I’m good! Can’t have my sidekicks picking up my slack, after all.”

 

Shuichi refrained from pointing out that he already picked up his slack on a number of occasions, instead turning his attention to something that had been added to the living room since he’d last examined it. “By the way, what’s that?” He pointed to the rather large calendar hanging on the wall, a highly detailed galaxy photograph showing above July’s dates.

“Oh!” Momota’s excitement increased tenfold as he dragged Shuichi over. “This is mine! I decided to bring it down here so that we could keep track of when the full moons are. See?” He pointed out the first Saturday, encircled a few times by a red pen.

 

Oh. He swallowed nervously. There were only...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Four days until Full Moon_


	26. Trigger Happy Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a warning for that M rating finally being justified: strong language and suggestive content

**July 8, 201X - Dark Hour**

“It would seem that our observations were correct,” Shinguuji commented as they huddled around Harukawa’s device, a faint reading showing north of the dorm.

“What, did you doubt mine and Shuichi’s deduction?” Momota asked, “I thought we all agreed that this full moon thing was for real!”

“Correlation does not equal causation. It is always best to further confirm one’s suspicions before coming to a conclusion.”

 

“Anyway,” Akamatsu politely cut in, “You’re going to go fight it then, Harukawa-san?”

“Yes.” She shifted, crossing her arms. “Along with the four of you, I suppose. You’ll just beg to come along anyway.”

“Great, we’re all on the same page then!” Momota shot the group a thumbs up.

Akamatsu bit her lip. “Will Miu be alright in the dorm by herself though? The first one fled and then attacked here...”

“I cannot say for certain, but trust that I will do my best in ensuring she remains safe until your return, Akamatsu-san,” Shinguuji promised, “No Shadows will reach her, you have my word.”

She took a deep breath. “Okay. Then let’s go.”

 

“Before that,” Shinguuji continued, “I would like to help the preparation with one final tidbit of advice. From mine and Saihara-kun’s analysis, it is very likely that this Shadow will fall under the Hierophant subclass - that being any Shadow displaying the Roman numeral for five on its mask. The only other Shadow of this subclass that have been encountered are the Twins, which use electricity, so be prepared for that possibility.”

Shuichi nodded. “Got it. Thanks.” It would be useful to know-

“Remember, Saihara, that this is my operation,” Harukawa interrupted, “If you want to make any sudden changes in strategy, _try_ to run it by me first.” He winced, vividly remembering her anger from the previous full moon at Ouma’s interference.

“‘My operation’, ‘your operation’, sheesh.” Momota scratched the back of his head. “These are _our_ operations. We’re in this together.”

“Momota-kun’s right,” he agreed, “We all want to help stop these big Shadows before they hurt anyone, so it’s no longer just us wanting to help you, Harukawa-san. This is an important mission to us too.”

She sighed. “Fine, whatever. But I won’t budge on leading these missions. So let’s go already; we’re wasting time.” Device in hand, she accepted no objections as she swiftly exited, forcing the group to follow after, only pausing briefly to allow a quick parting with Shinguuji on the third floor.

 

Shuichi wouldn’t say anything, but the way Harukawa led stressed him out. She paused whenever they were met with a corner, taking a moment to peer out before continuing, as if she were wary of being ambushed. Becoming more than a little on edge, he himself kept looking around as they followed her down back alleys and unfamiliar streets, trying to get a sense of where they were headed. Momota and Chabashira looked equally lost.

“So, uh, are we close?” Momota finally asked.

“Yes,” Harukawa curtly replied, “Looks like one more block over.”

Akamatsu, who’d maintained a fairly neutral expression, suddenly grimaced. “Oh.”

“Oh?” Shuichi echoed, “Do you know where it is?”

“Well, I mean, I’ve lived in this area before, so...” She bit her lip. “I hope I’m misremembering...”

 

Unfortunately, she wasn’t.

 

Unpowered neon lights adorned the fronts of various buildings along the road, and the more he looked, the more clear it became what type of place they’d entered. “So, this is Shirakawa Boulevard...”

Akamatsu sighed. “Yep.”

While the rest of them grew uneasy at the revelation, Harukawa remained unfazed. “Let’s keep moving.” She pushed forward, letting her device lead them towards one of the hotels further down. As they trudged through blood-colored water, he was struck with both a sense of deja vu and a headache.

 

While he tried to shake it off, Harukawa stopped again, this time with finality. “It’s here.” It was surprisingly obvious. Despite the lack of electricity, the sign for _Champs de fleurs_ shone brightly as if inviting them inside, as if the Shadow expecting them. And if it was, that would raise so many questions.

Chabashira shifted uneasily. “Um... Tenko’s not sure if... Do we really have to go in there?”

Harukawa gave her a look. “Of course. What, do you have a problem with that?” Though her tone wasn’t hostile, Chabashira still flinched.

“Well, um, you know... It’s just... _You know...”_ She glanced at the love hotel pointedly.

“No, I don’t.”

 

The flatness of her tone immediately killed the conversation, and upon seeing that it was dead, Harukawa turned to enter the building. With no choice but to follow, the four of them reluctantly hurried after her.

The lobby was empty, dim lights barely illuminating the front counter and the hallway leading towards the second floor. Harukawa lifted her radar, searching for the Shadow’s signal. After a few seconds, a frustrated sigh left her mouth. “This is useless. Let’s start at the top and work our way down.”

 

She led them up the stairs, where the first signs of life began to show. Two Maya with Emperor masks made a beeline for them as they looked for stairs to the third floor, lights flickering as tiny arcs of lightning bounced off them. Shuichi let Chabashira bash their “faces” in, keeping his eyes peeled for any other Shadows.

However, instead his eyes caught on a familiar figure standing by the stairs. His heart leapt into his throat, despite all rational thought saying he shouldn’t be surprised.

 

“Ouma-kun?” He called out. Next to him, Harukawa reacted as expected, head jerking to follow Shuichi’s gaze.

“What are you doing here?” She glowered as he casually approached, arms folded behind his head.

Once he stopped in front of them, he hummed, tilting his head. “You know, I feel like you ask me that every time we cross paths. Don’t you know that hello’s how you’re supposed to actually greet people?”

“Shut up.”

He sighed loudly. “How unexpected, Harukawa-chan. Geez, talking to you bores me so much.” He let his arms fall back to his sides. “How about you answer first, if you’re so interested in my life.”

 

“We’re here to fight a Shadow, obviously,” Momota loudly answered, “Shuichi said you know Shadows get restless on full moons, so is that what you’re doing here too?”

He grinned widely. “Oh no, I’m here because I had a prophetic vision. My destiny’s calling me, clearly.”

“Get out of here.” Harukawa ignored the lie, swiftly walking past Ouma towards the stairs. “I don’t need you causing trouble again.”

“I never cause trouble!”

 

He followed the group upstairs despite the completely indiscreet cold shoulder he was being given by everyone except Shuichi and Akamatsu - and Shuichi himself wasn’t entirely sure if having him around was a good idea, even if he had helped significantly the month before. With four fighters and Akamatsu on support, it wasn’t like they were lacking in manpower. Not that Ouma had brought anything except his brains to the table before. Even in the face of the Empress, all he’d done was throw a _shoe_ at it. It made him suspicious; could Ouma even fight them? Was he hanging around them so much because it was dangerous for him to be alone?

 

If he put it like that, he felt a bit sorry for him. With all that Ouma knew, Shuichi just assumed he could fight the Shadows. Plus, Harukawa’s wariness of him suggested that he could fight as well, but, well, perhaps it was hasty to draw conclusions with only circumstantial evidence to back him up. He tried to think of any other occasions that would prove anything. The rescue Iruma missions? He’d gone off with Akamatsu, and they’d of course lived-

He fidgeted with his hat; he really needed to stop overthinking things. Whether or not Ouma could fight, that wasn’t important at the moment. He needed to concentrate on the mission, not unraveling some grand mystery he was building up in his mind.

 

“Wait.” Harukawa’s command broke his thoughts as they stopped in front of a set of doors. In her hand, the radar flashed wildly. “It’s reacting strangely; let’s check inside.” Pocketing it, she pushed open the door. Inside, darkness greeted them. Defensively, they summoned their weapons, the faint glow they emitted their only light as they cautiously stepped further into the room.

“Is it here?” Momota whispered, his blade barely bright enough to illuminate his face.

“I dunno,” Chabashira whispered back, “Why don’t you-”

 

She didn’t get to finish her sentence, as the doors slammed shut, causing her to shriek. Without warning, blinding, multicolor spotlights clicked on, drowning the room in an atmosphere that was truly fitting for the type of hotel they were in. As Shuichi huddled closer to Akamatsu and Momota, his eyes were finally met with fifth large Shadow. The Hierophant.

 

From his understanding, a hierophant was a religious figure. A religious figure of the West, likely, but that still called a certain image to mind. The stout figure on a throne designed disturbingly like an, um, escort was certainly not his idea of holy. But with the numeral V etched into its round mask, it could only be the Shadow they were looking for.

“What the fuck?” Momota breathed out as the Hierophant’s throne climbed over the bed in the center of the room, the heels of the fishnet-covered legs making the waterbed shift with uneasy gurgles. The Shadow itself let out what sounded like a grunt, fixing them with a long stare as the throne’s womanly back wrapped its arms around the Hierophant’s shoulders.

 

A light built up in the woman’s branched “head”, and they barely had time to scatter as a clap of thunder tore through the room, a large bolt of lightning striking where they’d been moments before. Panic fell upon the room as the battle began. For the moment, Shuichi was glad he wasn’t in charge of directing the others.

He and Harukawa immediately began their ranged assault, gun and crossbow firing yellow projectiles into the Shadow’s large gut. Momota and Chabashira hesitated, instinctively looking to Akamatsu for guidance. She shouted something to them, but through another clap of thunder and the chords from her piano, the noise drowned it out.

 

Perhaps it reached their ears, however, as they nodded and struck forward, staff and sword meeting each of the front legs. The Shadow staggered, legs frantically readjusting on the bed as the weight of its main body threatened to topple the chair over. They pulled back as one of the legs lashed out towards them, dodging the physical attack with ease. They weren’t so lucky with the burst of electricity that followed. Chabashira let out a low growl in pain, clutching her arm where it struck, while Momota fell to a knee, a straggled groan escaping his throat.

 

Looking to them, Shuichi’s head pounded as the room was swamped with color. He stumbled, shouting in alarm as something brushed against his leg. He lashed out, firing a shot downwards into what appeared to be an animated paper doll. It dissolved away, but from the lack of a mask, it had to be an extension of the Hierophant.

“Saihara,” Harukawa called out, “When I say fire, shoot. Got it?”

“Ah, right, yes.”

“Good.” Her attention snapped to the the two others, currently keeping up their barrage of attacks. “Chabashira, Momota, do that again. Push upwards and topple it over.” Her orders were quickly followed, and as its balance depended on its hind legs again, the order to fire was given. It toppled back entirely onto the bed, squealing and writhing like a turtle that couldn’t flip itself over.

 

Unfortunately, its rough landing came with its own problems, as the bed punctured, water gushing out onto the floor. Disgusted noises came from the front line as “blood” soaked their legs. Oh no. Shuichi could already see this going horribly, and that was without the pounding yellow light surrounding Momota.

“You both need to get away from it!” Shuichi shouted, glancing to Harukawa for approval and receiving no objection.

His desperate command was met with confusion, but they hurried away just in time to avoid the center of the room alighting with current surging through the pool of water, the Shadow’s tantrum from being knocked over.

Harukawa, careful to avoid the water, stepped forward. “Time to finish it off.” She lifted her crossbow, sending Shuichi a look that implied he was supposed to support her final assault. The two of them fired upon the vulnerable Hierophant, the murky red surrounding it slowly darkening as its body broke down.

 

When it was finally no more, Shuichi let out a long breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Unlike most fights, there was an odd silence in the room. Void of cheering, of congratulations, of excitement. Maybe it was caused by Akamatsu personally tending to the electrical burns on Chabashira and Momota. Maybe it was Harukawa’s wary regard of the pile of sludge, keeping her crossbow at the ready as she double checked that it was gone. Maybe it was Ouma’s presence in the corner, lurking the entirety of the fight without raising a finger to help.

 

Or maybe it was the rising fog in his head and the building desire to approach the elegant mirror on the wall.

 

Why he wanted to investigate it, he wasn’t certain. As he hazily began to walk over to it, in what felt like a distant world away, one of the others was shouting something about the door being stuck. He-

 

He couldn’t pull away.

 

_There’s nothing wrong with a bit of narcissism._

 

As he stared into the reflectionless mirror,

the world

his existence

went white

 

 

 

 

 

hot breath brushes against his neck

his surroundings are barely visible through half-lidded eyes, but the warmth beneath him could only belong to another

_Who?_

does it matter?

desire needs no face

desire needs no love

no logic

no commitment

 

the present, the here and now, that’s all that matters

_Where is here?_

hands trace along his back, his body instinctively curling into the one below him in response

soft hair tickles against his face, and one of his hands shift to lovingly stroke his partner’s cheek

with one final squeezing hug, he pulls back, foggy gaze sweeping across the body beneath him

 

his jacket flies to the floor, fingers swiftly moving to the top button of his shirt

_Huh?_

he takes off his shirt

_What?_

he takes off his shirt

_Why?_

he. takes. off. his.

he-

 

_STOP!_

 

Like having a bucket of cold water dumped on him, Shuichi’s consciousness jerked back into reality. He gasped for air as if he’d been deprived it for hours, the rush of oxygen pushing away the remaining fog lingering in the corners of his mind. He blinked. Then, he lurched back, the horrifying realization of the position he was in striking him.

“Ah, Akamatsu-san!” Previously lying beneath him, she pulled herself upwards, gaze fogged over as she was unresponsive to his cry of alarm. She moved to hover over him, hands pinning his shoulders down on the velvety bed. Deep in his rising panic, Shuichi could only match her actions, pushing against her shoulders as well to keep her at arm’s length. “Akamatsu-san!”

 

After the longest seconds of his life, the stiff, unnatural tenseness in her shoulders released, slow blinks meeting his gaze as he continuing pushing against her, his fingers probably digging in to her skin too roughly. Her reaction quickly mirrored his own, fumbling to detach herself from him.

“Saihara-kun, I- What?” She flushed bright red, looking anywhere but him. “What, what happened?”

“Hopefully nothing?” He weakly chuckled, trying not to seem too desperate in his search for his shirt as her attention was on their surroundings. “Um, I think maybe it was a Shadow?” Yeah, that was probably right. His searching gaze finally located what he was looking for on the foot of the bed, and he made to grab it.

 

“Wait, are you wearing a binder?”

Every cell in his body froze. He couldn’t breathe. “No?” His voice cracked at the denial, hands shaking as he jerked his shirt towards him and frantically pulled it on.

The panic clearly didn’t support his lie, as Akamatsu reached forward to touch his wrist. “Hey, it’s okay, I won’t judge. You’re my friend, nothing will change that.”

“I- I know that, but- but I’m...” He pulled away to slide off the bed, buttoning his shirt and throwing his jacket back on. “We, We need to find the others.”

In the brief silence that followed, he could feel Akamatsu’s stare weighing on him. His stomach churned. “Okay,” she finally responded, “Let’s go then.” _Yeah, get moving already._

 

The full realization that he’d been in a love suite with his friend hit him once they step out into the first floor’s hallway, an apology promptly tumbling out of his lips. “I’m, um, I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable at all.”

Her immediate response was to quietly laugh. “I think I’m the one that’s supposed to be apologizing, Saihara-kun. I’m pretty sure I’ve done more to make you uncomfortable.” _Ha, cause if you were any weaker, both of you’d’ve gotten to third base!_

He pushed away the degrading voice in his head. “Ah, it’s okay... Um... So...” He glanced around. “Where do you think the others are..?”

“Second floor maybe?” She hesitatingly answered, before her determination solidified, “Yeah, I’m sure they’ll be there.”

 

With the fifty percent chance they had, it wasn’t surprising when they did stumble upon Ouma and Chabashira awkwardly leaning against opposing walls. It was almost like they were having a staredown, but the latter was quick to break eye contact to greet Akamatsu.

“Kaede-san! You’re-” She looked them over, eyes narrowing at their clearly disheveled appearance. “Did he touch you?!”

“No!” She quickly denied, not that Chabashira was listening.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to defend him! I’ll protect you from his degenerate ways!”

“He really didn’t! If anything, I was the one touching him- Wait! That’s, that’s not what I meant!”

 

Shuichi felt his face getting redder the more awkward the conversation became. “So, um, did, did anything happen with you two..?” His attempt to change topics was met with a pair of sighs.

“I can’t believe I got dumped into a room with Chabashira-chan,” Ouma commented, picking at his fingernails, “With two raging lesbians, you’d think it’d pair off them, but noooo. Homophobia, I tell you.” Could Shadows even be homophobic? He decided not to comment on that.

But that didn’t stop one of the clearly obvious girls he mentioned from flushing. “W-Well, Tenko just, um- Anyway! Where’s Harukawa-san? Do you think that Momota-san is-?”

 

“We’re right here, and if you continue to raise a ruckus I’m leaving you behind.” Harukawa rounded the corner, Momota following at a distance with an uncertain expression on his face. From their equally as disheveled appearance, it was clear something had probably happened between them as well. Harukawa’s hair was wet, pulled back into a ponytail instead of her usual twintails. _Clearly they had some kinky shower s-_

He shook the weird thoughts away. “Are you alright?”

On the other hand, Ouma clearly had no problem voicing his thoughts. “Ooo, did you make a move on Harukawa-chan~?” He gave Momota a wide grin. His grin was met with a glare as his eyes shifted from looking anywhere but her to Ouma.

“What?! Don’t be stupid! There’s no way I’d do anything like that to one of my sidekicks!”

 

“Sidekick?” Both Ouma and Harukawa responded, the latter with astonishment clear in her voice.

“Yeah, that’s right! So nothing happened, let’s get going!”

Ouma covered his mouth to muffle a snicker. “Wow Harukawa-chan, you’ve really sunk low if you’re letting this idiot order you around.”

“What-?! I’m not an idiot!”

“If you don’t shut up, I’ll kill you,” she flatly stated, the surprise from Momota’s declaration pushed away. _Feisty._

 

“Okay, I gotta ask something,” Momota suddenly interrupted, “Am I the only one hearing weird things?”

“Probably,” Harukawa responded.

“Tenko doesn’t hear anything.”

“Don’t worry, Momota-chan, we all know you’re-” _fucking stupid as hell, yeah!_

Ouma’s statement was cut off as Akamatsu interrupted. “Wait, I think I’ve been hearing something too. Don’t just write him off.”

“Yeah, I think I maybe heard it too,” Shuichi agreed, “Um, can we be quiet for a moment?”

 

_What, wanna hear me moan? Too fucking bad, you gotta work to get any from-_

 

“Oh my god, I think I just heard a disgusting whore,” Ouma sang loudly, a wide smile on his face. A slimy feeling crawled across Shuichi’s skin as a breathy moan echoed both in his head and from somewhere in the building. Next to him, Akamatsu stiffened, then darted off in the direction of the sound.

“Wait, where are you going?!” Chabashira called after her, but she didn’t respond. With no other option, they hurried after her, back down the stairs to the first floor.

 

“What the fuck, you all fucking coming to greet me?! Can’t keep it in your pants a moment longer?!” An unfamiliar voice shouted as they were on the stairs, “Fuck, I know I’m a goddess, Kaede, but I’m not really interested in butting in on your orgy. I’m wayyyy too good for your friends, no offe- Heee!” Her statement was mangled as she let out a surprised shriek. When they finally made it to them, Akamatsu was hugging an awake Iruma as tightly as she could.

“You’re, you’re awake,” she sobbed into her sister’s shoulder, while said sister looked incredibly put off.

“Um, yeah, of, of course I am.” Her eyes flickered nervously, until they settled upon Shuichi’s face. “What are you looking at, idiot hair?!”

 

He flinched. “Idiot hair..?” He reached up to touch his head- oh. Where was his hat??

She puffed up in Akamatsu’s tight grip. “Yeah, what, you not look in the mirror recently?” She laughed at him. “I mean, I know you have, but your bedhead is so fucking terrible. You look like you just finished having sex!” She didn’t react to the shocked looks she got, absolutely zero shame for what she was saying.

“This- This is Iruma-san?” Chabashira tentatively asked.

Harukawa sighed. “I want her to shut up already.”

 

Ouma seemed to be having a blast, however. “That’s right, Iruma-chan, when are you going to learn to shut your filthy shit-eating mouth?”

“Don’t talk back to me, cumstain! You’re just jealous your dick hasn’t gotten any action tonight!”

“That implies I’d sleep with anyone here, but sorry, I’m not a cumdump like you are.” If Ouma hadn’t been vulgar before, it was already clear that putting him and Iruma in the same room was a horrible idea. How did the teachers survive having them both in class?

 

“Anyway,” Akamatsu sniffed, detaching herself from Iruma’s shoulder, “Why are you here? You shouldn’t be wandering around, it’s dangerous!”

She let out a short barking laugh. “I’m not fucking scared of the Shadows, they’re just lowly piles of jizz no one wanted to swallow.”

“So you know what Shadows are then?” Shuichi tentatively asked.

“Of course! What, you think I just fucking sleep for a month and do nothing productive?! If there’s anything I hate, it’s wasting time sleeping!” She looked proud of herself as she explained (very vulgarly) that she had more or less been watching them all month and cramming information on Shadows into her head.

 

“So, you spied on us then,” Harukawa snapped, displeasure settling on her face.

Iruma shrunk. “Okay, well, I know I made it sound intentional, but really my mind was just kinda floating around wherever... And when you guys went too far away or pushed me out I’d go look at something else...”

“And the, uh, voices in our head thing?” Momota added.

Her confidence flipped back the other way. “Well sorry, dickcheese, we can’t all be masters of our powers! I might be both gorgeous and a genius, but I’m still in the experimental phase! Maybe feeling up your minds without permission wasn’t exactly the right thing to do, but a girl’s gotta get attention somehow!”

 

Harukawa pinched the bridge of her nose. “Alright, well, we should get going. I’m getting a headache dealing with so many brats.”

Shuichi sighed in agreement. “Yeah, we beat the Hierophant, so-”

“What about the other one?” Iruma interrupted.

“The, the other one?”

“Yeah, the one that made all of you horny as fuck! It’s so fucking huge..!” She flushed, choking back a moan at her own innuendo. “It’s sooooo biiiig, and, and on the third fucking floor doing whatever the fuck it wants! The Lovers! Or maybe it should be called the Lusters, ha!”

 

Harukawa’s device was in her hands faster than he could tell she was pulling it out. “... She’s right. There is another one in here.” She regarded Iruma with a wary look before sighing. “Well, we’re here, and I need to go dispatch of it regardless-”

“Need?” Her word choice sparked curiosity in Shuichi. She didn’t respond to him.

“Well, then let’s go beat it!” Momota was quick to jump on board, Chabashira equally as fast to voice her desire to join Harukawa. Shuichi didn’t disagree, but he felt a weird sense of wrongness surfacing. He tried to ignore it.

 

“Well, if you’re going to do that, you should let me help,” Iruma demanded, “I mean, the room’s sealed up, so honestly you’ll be flailing around like limp dicks without my help. You should be honored!”

“The limp dicks here are because they saw your ugly face!”

“Shut up midget, the adults are talking!”

“Seriously, stop talking to each other or I’ll kill you both.” Harukawa glared. “I’m busy and I don’t have time for you getting in the way.” That shut Iruma up, though Ouma apparently couldn’t resist getting the last word with loudly stage whispering “wow, Harukawa-chan’s scary~” to Momota.

 

Shuichi’s own headache was long established by the point they got Iruma to explain that they needed to break some mirrors holding some of the Lovers’ power and made it back to the room they’d defeated the Hierophant in. Walking around with a group of seven instead of the five they arrived with was... noisy. After the excitement of her sister being awake had worn off, Akamatsu looked extremely apologetic for every word that came out of her mouth.

 

Iruma stopped outside the door. “Alright, I’ll wait out here so my gorgeous body doesn’t get hurt, so keep your minds open for me to yell at you! Don’t forget what my angelic voice sounds like now!” She laughed, hubris rolling off her in waves.

“Will you be safe? There’s still other Shadows around...”

“Don’t worry, Shithara!” Shuichi coughed at the insult. “I didn’t make it all the way here on luck! Just go jerk your gun in the Shadow’s face and give it a good time!” There was really no objection he could give that, huh. At least, no objection that wouldn’t result in more innuendos being thrown in his face, and he wasn’t sure his heart could take much more. So, they entered the room without further fight.

 

Inside, above the remains of the Hierophant and its waterbed, a large heart fluttered in the air. Through the still cracked open door, Iruma shouted something about bondage and tentacles before the Shadow’s power slammed the door shut behind the rest of the group. She had a point, however; the Lovers’ heart body was surrounded by a flashy cage that definitely gave off the impression of bondage, and its wings were slimy and stringy in a tentacle-like way. In the dip at the top of the heart, like a cork on a love potion, sat the Shadow’s “head”, VI on its mask as expected. That was all he had to take in as the fight began with a bang.

 

Literally.

 

With a flash of its eyes, the room burst into flames. Shuichi and Akamatsu shouted out in terror, the sound echoed in his head by Iruma’s shout of alarm as well.

“Holy fucking shit!” Now that he was able to distinguish her voice, it sounded almost like she was screaming in his ear than in his head. “Fuck, go cower behind Momotard, he’s more fireproof than the rest of you!”

“What?!”

“Fucking seriously?! Don’t make me explain weaknesses and resistances to you, this isn’t fucking Pokemon! Skip the tutorial and you deserve whatever’s coming to you!” Real life didn’t come with a tutorial, but he didn’t have time to point that out as the flames grew in intensity. Without much choice, everyone that wasn’t Harukawa and Ouma rushed over to Momota’s side to use him as a meatshield.

 

Not that he appeared to care that he was now a meatshield. In fact, that just fed his ego, as he proudly declared, “Don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe! Leave it to me.” His sword as red as the flames, he lashed out at the “feathers” of the wing as they seemed to reach for them.

“I’ve seen enough hentai to know where this is going,” Iruma commented with a laugh. He didn’t approve of her commentary.

Off to the side, Harukawa began her own assault, paying no attention to the flames surrounding her as she fired her crossbow into the Lovers’ translucent body. Ouma lazily leaned against the door watching them, a sight which frustrated Shuichi. He wanted to yell at him to help out, but he had more important things to focus on.

 

Like Momota suddenly stiffening in front of them, the Lovers’ eyes flashing ominously.

“Fuck, forget what I said, get away from the idiot! He’s been charmed!” Iruma’s warning barely reached him in time to avoid getting sliced by Momota turning on them, sword slicing the space Shuichi had been standing in. A strange expression adorned his face as he wildly lashed out at the three he’d just promised to protect.

“Momota-kun!” He shouted, but he couldn’t get through to him. The only option was to flee. So of course while they followed logic, Ouma decided _this_ was the time to step in, rushing across the room to kick Momota in the shins.

 

“What the fuck?!” That snapped him out of it, though he immediately struck back against Ouma anyway, pushing him away roughly. Straight into the Shadow’s reaching “tentacles”, which wrapped around him tightly before the brief surprise had even left his face.

“Oh,” he flatly said as he was lifted into the air, appendages beginning to wrap around his neck, “Thanks, Momota-chan.”

“Fuck,” Momota hissed, but before he could rush to attempt a rescue he was shoved aside by Harukawa.

“Just get out of my way.”

 

As she stood in front of her target, the crossbow in her hand flickered into static. For a moment, it disappeared entirely, before returning, reforming into a shape that anyone would be familiar with. A shape that anyone would be terrified with.

“Is that a machine gun?!” Shuichi’s shout of shock was drowned out by the barrage of yellow bullets it began to fire, tearing the Shadow’s body to shreds. The intense scowl on Harukawa’s face as she completely obliterated it was enough to cause the rest of them to back away in fear.

 

It didn’t take long for the Lovers to join the Hierophant in the pool of sludge on the floor, Ouma almost falling into it himself when the tentacles dropped him. He touched his neck carefully, before Harukawa stormed over him and hauled him to his feet by the collar of his shirt. For a moment, Shuichi was almost afraid that she was going to replace the tentacles with her owns hands, but once he was standing she let go.

“... Thanks,” Ouma said, though he didn’t sound like he wanted to thank her.

“Whatever. Just consider it reimbursement for what happened last month; I don’t like owing you one.” When he just gave her a long look in response, she jerked her gaze away. “Next time, I don’t want to see you. You’re just causing me problems.”

 

“Fine,” he responded after a long moment, “But if you’re going to call me a nuisance and a threat, you better take another look in the mirror, Harukawa-chan.” She didn’t rebut the words he spat, only glaring into him as he turned his back, storming his way out through the dying flames.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> since it's still technically the 21st here in America, happy bday Ouma lmao  
>  sorry the chapter's a little later than usual, as you can see it's over twice as long as chapters normally are ^^;


	27. Beauty

**July 9, 201X - 11:20am**

He never did find his hat.

 

He tried to ignore the empty feeling on his head as the entirety of the dorm minus Harukawa gathered in the meeting room, instead focusing his attention on the situation with their newest addition.

“I was quite surprised last night,” Shinguuji stated, “Iruma-san’s voice suddenly penetrated-”

“Penetrated! Ha!”

“... My thoughts, alerting me to her awakening.” He was clearly resisting the urge to give her a scolding look as he explained what had happened. “She was rather insistent that I allow her to go find you all, and I foolishly agreed upon proof that she was well enough to do so. However, I suppose I greatly underestimated her health. Normally, those awakening from being in a comatose state for a significant period of time are burdened with after-effects, such as muscle degeneration taking away the ability to walk. So...”

 

“So I proved him fucking wrong!” Iruma hopped to her feet, legs clearly able to support her own weight. “I mean, not that it’s a surprise or anything, a month’s nothing compared to the last time I was knocked the fuck out!”

“You’ve, uh, been in a coma before?” Chabashira asked. Now that she mentioned it, Akamatsu had said something along those lines before, right?

“We were in a car accident a few years ago,” Akamatsu quickly explained, “She, she was in a coma for a few months, so coming out of it was... It was a lot rougher.” She looked pained, though Iruma didn’t seem fazed.

“Yeah, it sucked, but ever since then, my brain’s been like, so fucking amazing. All these ideas crammed into my head, and now it’s even better!” She laughed, “Maybe next time I’ll learn how to fucking teleport or some shit, well, not that I couldn’t build a teleporter if I really wanted to.”

 

She then paused, expression turning more serious. “But you know, I can at least give some credit to Kaede.”

“Huh? For what?” She looked genuinely surprised.

“You’re right across the hall, you know. Don’t think I couldn’t hear you playing the piano twenty- _ five _ seven.” She hesitated. “It... It felt really soothing. So, so thanks for keeping me healthy, or whatever...”

Akamatsu blinked. “Oh. I... I didn’t realize.” She smiled, happy tears glistening in her eyes. “I’m glad I could help you after all then.”

 

“Yeah, yeah, well...” She shifted in place. “Of course you could; you’re this gorgeous genius’ sister after all! So, let’s skip the sappy stuff and get to the main event already!”

“The main event?” Shuichi asked, almost afraid to find out what she meant.

“That’s right! I’m officially joining your stupid team! No need to grovel on the ground begging me, though if you really want to I won’t stop you..!”

The team in question hesitated in answering, looking to Shuichi for his input. When he averted his gaze away from their staring eyes, Akamatsu spoke up. “It’s your call, Saihara-kun. Whatever you decide, I’ll accept.”

Iruma tsked, not-so-quietly mumbling, “Is the beta of all betas  _ still _ going to lead?”

 

He tried to ignore her displeasure. “Um, well... As far as we could tell, you can’t fight, so what would you be doing exactly?”

She gave him a look that screamed “Are you stupid?” Of course, her words quickly matched that look. “You’re all clearly just running around with your pants down, so you need someone - like yours truly - to chaperone you virgins!”

“Um, chaperone?”

 

She huffed. “So like, when you go dick around in Tartarus, you’re just hoping nothing goes wrong and that you have everything under control, right? It’s half-assed and dangerous. But, I can tell where they’re at, how many there are, and with some time their weaknesses and resistances. Plus, I can tell what you’re strong and weak against too, so that’ll greatly reduce the amount of fuck-ups you’re sure to make in the future.”

She had a point. “You mentioned that before, too - the weaknesses and resistances, I mean. How does that work?”

“Yeah, well. Y’all got some weird auras or somethin’ around you, and as far as I can tell the colors correspond to your affinities.” She placed a hand on her hip, a confident smirk on her face. “I have no fucking idea how you survived this long without _some_ idea of what you’re up against, but it’s as clear as day now thanks to my powers.”

“So, so are you going to tell us then?” Chabashira asked.

 

She was silent for a moment. “Yeah, fine. You’re weak to ice and strong against wind. He’s-” She jerked her head in Shuichi’s direction. “-weak to wind and strong against electricity, while Momotard’s weak to electricity and good against fire.” All of those made a surprising amount of sense, though Momota’s apparent resistance caused him to touch his arm.

“What about me?” Akamatsu asked.

Iruma hesitated. “Um... Well... It’s not like you’re actively fighting and getting hurt, so... I can tell you Harukawa’s! Strong against ice and weak to fire!” She deflected.

“Do you not know?” Shuichi wondered aloud.

“Of course I fucking know!” She retorted, “Does it matter?!” That was likely a yes, she didn’t know, then. But it wasn’t worth pursuing; she was right, Akamatsu didn’t fight, so it wasn’t necessarily essential information.

 

“Speaking of Harukawa-san,” Chabashira started, redirecting the conversation, “Where is she?”

“Off doing whatever she does, I presume,” Shinguuji replied, chuckling softly, “Ever the mystery, she is.”

“Not here, that’s for sure,” Iruma huffed, “My powers aren’t as amplified during the daytime, but I can at least tell who’s in the building.”

Shuichi reached up to fidget with his hat thoughtfully, then lowered his hand upon touching his bangs instead. “So, your powers extend outside the Dark Hour?”

“Eh, kinda; as I said, it’s mostly just knowing who’s around. I can sorta feel Tartarus off in the distance, but just that it’s  _ there, _ not anything inside it or whatever.”

 

“That’s still incredible, Miu,” Akamatsu praised, “You’re always able to do such amazing things.”

“Yeah, I know. So, so just, uh, fuck,” she hissed, body shaking, “I’m- You bet your asses I’m fucking amazing! So fucking keep that in mind when you wanna go to Tartarus; if you don’t take me, I’ll, I’ll invent a machine to give you wedgies at the press of a button!”

“What?!” Chabashira shouted in alarm.

Iruma ignored her outburst. “And by the way, I’m gonna need someone to help lug all my shit here; me moving in’s been a long time coming, so might as well get it over with. I bet you’re eager to be able to see someone so hot every day, huh.” She laughed.

 

Since his arrival almost three months ago, Shuichi was concerned about the state of the dorm.

 

Finally, the noise level died down, and Iruma let out a final huff. “Well, let’s fucking go then. I have shit I gotta do to make up for sleeping.” She marched over to the exit, calling over her shoulder, “Chabashita! Momotard! C’mon! Put your wimpy muscles to good use for once in your lives!” She threw open the door, letting it slam closed behind her.

Akamatsu apologetically smiled. “Sorry, she’s... yeah... You don’t have to come, I can help her.”

“It’s fine!” Chabashira shouted, though she looked rather irritated, “I could never refuse to help a girl! Even, even if she does have the mouth of a degenerate...”

“Yeah, it’s cool.” Momota scratched the back of his head, pulling himself up. “It’s not like I’m doin’ anything right now anyway.”

 

Shuichi frowned, a weird feeling in his chest. “Momota-kun?” He called out as the three of them were filtering out of the room.

He glanced back. “Yeah?”

He bit his lip. “Ah, um, are you alright.”

“Of course.” He looked confused. “Why do you ask?”

“I just thought you were being a bit quiet...” He shook his head. “Sorry, I’m probably just overthinking things.”

Momota gave him a wide grin. “Don’t worry about it. It’s just fatigue, nothin’ huge. I’ll be good as new after some more sleep.”

 

With that and a short wave, he followed the girls out, leaving Shuichi and Shinguuji the only two remaining. Shuichi let out a small sigh, grateful for the silence.

“It seems as if the dorm is becoming more lively.” Shinguuji chuckled. “I look forward to the developments to come.”

Shuichi wasn’t sure if he could say the same. The status quo never did him wrong. But regardless... “It’ll be nice to have Iruma-san’s help. She was right; exploring Tartarus is dangerous.”

“The higher the risk, the greater the reward, they say,” he replied, “But of course the value of the reward is in the eyes of the beholder; do you believe it’s worth it?”

 

Shuichi took a moment to respond. “I believe so, yes. Instead of being afraid of the big Shadows to come, we’re able to face them.” He paused, wringing his hands. “When I saw the, the Magician-” He looked to Shinguuji for approval, and when he nodded in understanding, he continued. “I was terrified. Shadows, the Dark Hour... All I associated with the two was pain.” He clenched his fists.

Then, he relaxed them. “But, it’s also brought us closer together. Akamatsu-san and Momota-kun, they’re...” He couldn’t find words to describe the importance of their friendship to him. “I guess it’s just, it’s not all bad. I regretted a lot when we first started messing around during the Dark Hour, but now...”

 

“I see,” Shinguuji responded after a few long moments, “There’s light even in the abyss; that’s one of the most beautiful things about humanity.”

Shuichi nodded in agreement, letting a comfortable silence fill the void while his thoughts settled and organized themselves. Shinguuji flipped through his notes in the background, the faint scratches of pencil the only noise between the two of them.

 

Finally, his mind decided on a direction of inquiry. “So, Shinguuji-kun, how did you get involved in Shadows?”

His hand paused. “You want to know?” He looked up, expression unreadable behind the face mask he always wore.

“Um, yes, if it’s okay to ask.”

He closed his notebook silently, a soft chuckle escaping his lips. “Very well, then. I must inform you, however, that it’s not a particularly interesting or deep story.”

“That’s fine.” His own story wasn’t anything to write home about either.

 

Shinguuji drummed his fingers against the notebook’s cover. “I know I’ve mentioned my psychology professors more than once, along with their research into Apathy Syndrome. As my minor is in psychology, I had been spending a large amount of time conversing with them about a wide variety of topics. One day, it just came up.

“They pitched the research proposal to me, and while I would normally refuse, due to my true passion being anthropology, I couldn’t deny the sheer level of curiosity that grew inside me the more they explained. Of course, the compensation and the housing here they ‘pay’ me with is a nice bonus, though I wouldn’t say important to my desire to learn more about Shadows.”

 

Shuichi pressed his knuckles to his mouth thoughtfully. “So, these other researchers also know about Shadows and the Dark Hour?”

“Not necessarily,” he hummed, “Most of their research appears to be theoretical, so I feed them back the appropriate amount of findings, not all of it. Our discovery of the tarot connection, for instance, but not the existence of these Full Moon Shadows.”

“I see.” Shuichi nodded. “Um, if you know, what do they plan on doing with the research? If, um, they learn about the Dark Hour...”

Shinguuji adjusted his mask. “Research is primarily done because it’s there, Saihara-kun. To researchers, unveiling the hidden truths of the world is nothing more than a source of intellectual fuel - the euphoria of discovery is a drug like no other. No, the ones who use research in the way it shouldn’t oft aren’t the ones that discovered it to begin with.”

 

He narrowed his eyes. “Those types of people - the ones that hunt like vultures to profit off the hard work of others - I believe they to be one of the ugliest sides of humanity.”


	28. Safe Haven

**July 10, 201X - 4:41pm**

“Finals start tomorrow, Saihara-kun; do you want to study together?” Akamatsu asked as they were leaving school, club activities wrapping up for the day.

“Ah, sure,” he responded, glancing at an unanswered message on his phone, “Did Momota-kun head home already?”

“I think so? I haven’t seen him since classes ended.”

“I see.” That was disappointing. “Should we still go to the bookstore to study then..?”

She laughed. “He doesn’t have to be with us for us to go there.”

 

Her reassurance didn’t stop him from being nervous, but any fears he imagined were quickly smothered the moment they stepped inside and Momota’s grandma looked up from the front counter, smiling widely.

“Kaede-chan and Shuichi-kun, how are you?” She weaved around the counter to give Akamatsu a hug. “How’s your sister?”

She waited until Miku pulled away to respond. “I’m doing good.” She returned the smile, eyes shining. “And Miu woke up Saturday night!”

The happiness reflected in her face made Shuichi feel warm. “That’s so good to hear, dear! You be sure to bring her over once she’s fully recovered; I’ll cook a nice meal for the two of you.”

 

Once she left to give the two of them space to study, the smile began to drop off Akamatsu’s face. “You know, she’s asked me how Miu was every single time I’ve visited while she was comatose. Our parents didn’t call to ask after her even once.” She plopped herself down at the study table, hands curled into fists. “They only care about us when we’re perfect and meeting their impossibly high expectations.”

Shuichi averted his gaze, swallowing. “I’m sorry. I... I know how much that hurts.”

Her smile was now more of a grimace. “Bad parents too, huh?” She patted the seat next to her, encouraging him to sit down. He complied, massaging one hand with the other to calm some of his rising anxiety.

“I guess you could say that.”

 

There was a thick silence for a period of time, before Akamatsu began to quietly speak. “A little over a year ago, my parents more or less disowned and kicked me out. They’d always been a bit hostile towards me since my mom died and Miu was hospitalized for the first time, but it got worse when she woke up and started showing signs of incredible talent. She... I could never hate her, but she was their favorite. Everything she does is good, and everything I do is bad.”

She wiped at her rapidly filling eyes. “She was so desperate for recognition and love that I let it be. She’s, she’s always been scared of being rejected, of being alone. It hurt so much when I had to leave her there to move into the dorms.”

Shuichi carefully moved his hand to her arm as comfort, letting her calm before asking, “What happened?”

 

She took a deep breath. “I... I like girls. I  _ love _ girls.” She paused, looking away. “When they found out, they... they obviously didn’t like it.” She sighed.

“I see,” he quietly responded, hesitating, “They, um, my parents... They haven’t spoken to me since I moved in with my uncle. Because he, he supported me when they didn’t. So, so you don’t have to worry about anything; you’re my friend regardless.”

“I know that,” she quietly laughed, “I told you the same the other night. So...” She turned to look him in the eyes. “I think we should talk about it. I know it’s not something you want to talk about, but your health is more important than indulging your anxiety.”

 

He winced at the bluntness of her words, pulling away. “I...” His eyes scanned the wood of the table as if it would give him some sort of answer, before sighing, “You’re, you’re right. You were right. I’m, I wear a binder. For reasons that are probably clear.” He mumbled his confession, a part of him not wanting to be heard even by her.

She nodded in understanding. “How long do you wear it?”

He swallowed, knowing the answer was bad. “Um... Longer than I should, I know...” He wanted to hide behind his hat, but that line of defense was still out of commission.

She sighed. “I figured. I know I can’t ask you to stop, but you clearly know it’s hurting you. And if you get hurt, we’ll be without a leader.”

“I know,” he whispered, a feeling of shame swelling in his chest, “I try to minimize wearing it, but... so much is always happening. When I lived with my uncle, I was able to get by wearing it for only a little over the recommended time, but now...” His nails dug into his palms.

 

“I’ve been thinking about what Miu said yesterday.” She suddenly changed the topic. “About how my powers kept her body healthy. If... If we’re going to be in this for the long haul, maybe it would benefit you to spend some time listening to me play during the Dark Hour.”

An uncomfortable feeling wrapped around his heart like a vice. “You, you don’t need to do that. I don’t want to inconve-”

“You wouldn’t be inconveniencing me; I want to do this. I love playing the piano, and I love playing it for other people to hear. You don’t even have to be giving me your full attention; you can study or read or work on whatever you like.”

He shifted in his seat. “Well, if you insist... I suppose it’s worth trying at least.”

 

At his agreement, she smiled and let the conversation drop, allowing them to redirect their attention towards the studying they were supposed to be doing. Despite the anxiety that had built up during their talk, now that everything was out in the open, he felt the tension in his shoulders completely release for what felt like the first time in a long time. He felt... He felt safe.

 

As the time for them to leave approached, the store’s quiet was interrupted by the phone ringing. Miku moved from dusting the shelves to answer it, Shuichi’s eyes following her in curiosity.

“Iwatodai Bookworms, Momota Miku speaking,” she greeted, and a second later her face brightened. “Hello, dear. Are you on your way home?” She paused for them to answer, her face slowly slipping back towards neutral. “Mm... I see. Don’t worry, mistakes happen. I’ll make sure it gets to him.” Another pause. “I love you too, dear.” She hung up, and Shuichi quickly turned back to his studying to avoid seeming like he was eavesdropping. From the corner of his eye, Akamatsu mimicked his actions.

 

Miku shuffled to the back, returning a few minutes later with a small box. Surprisingly, she brought it over towards them, an apologetic smile gracing her lips. “I feel horrible to trouble you, but my scatterbrained husband forgot this bento he was going to drop off at Naganaki Shrine. Would it be too much to ask for you to drop it off?”

“It wouldn’t be any trouble at all,” Shuichi readily agreed, wanting to show his appreciation for her hospitality, “Where should I leave it?”

She gave him a warm smile. “Thank you so much. There’s this sweet little boy, Gonta-kun, who lives at the shrine. I trust that you’ll be able to find him; he’s probably waiting around expecting someone to stop by. Please just give it to him and tell him it’s from me.”

 

Not wanting to keep this person waiting, he and Akamatsu wrapped up and headed out. Shuichi offered to go by himself, but she rejected it, expressing interest in meeting him. So, they made their way to Naganaki Shrine, dusk just starting to fall from the length of summer’s days.

No one was immediately visible upon arrival; in fact, the shrine hardly looked different from the last time he’d visited. The two of them paused, looking around uncertainly.

“Hm...” Akamatsu hummed. “Do you think he’s inside?”

“Perhaps...” He responded, eyes sweeping across the playground where he would normally expect a “little boy” to hang out. It was empty as well, at least, until they approached the shrine.

 

At which point, a large man with dark, bushy hair stepped out from the woods surrounding the shrine, a bug net and a small cage in his hands. Shuichi quickly looked away, not wanting to seem as if he was staring. Did that stop him from coming over anyway? Of course not. Shuichi swallowed as the giant loomed closer and closer, until finally-

“Hello!” His voice was incredibly loud and equally as cheerful, a wide smile on his face. “Visiting?”

“Yes,” Shuichi shakingly answered. At his side, Akamatsu looked as nervous as he felt. “Um, I’m looking for Gonta-kun..?”

As he held up the box in his hands, the giant’s face lit up. “Oh, Granny’s bento! You bring for Gonta?” He gestured to himself. Shuichi sweated; this was  _ not _ a little boy.

 

Still, he nodded, handing the bento over to him. As he took it from Shuichi’s hands, Akamatsu politely coughed. “Um, so you’re Gonta-kun?”

“Yes! Gonta is Gonta!” Despite his intimidating height, he seemed very friendly. Shuichi tried to relax. “If Gonta can ask, who are you?”

“Saihara Shuichi, um, and this is my friend Akamatsu Kaede,” he introduce, Akamatsu greeting him with a small wave, “We’re friends with, um, Granny’s grandson, so she asked if we could bring this over to you.”

“Thank you very much!” He balanced the bento on top of his cage carefully, before gesturing to the shrine with his net. “Want to come inside?”

 

An innocent request, yet one that Shuichi was quick to regret accepting. Inside the shrine was louder than outside, the singing of cicadas filling the entire room. As they looked around, it was clear that cicadas weren’t the only insects living here; various cages lined the walls, only visible because they were really observing the paneling that attempted to hide them from view. He felt uncomfortable.

“Um, so, you live here?” He asked to distract himself, hoping his question wasn’t offensive.

“Yes! Head monk let Gonta live here.” His expression fell. “Oh, but he passed away. So it’s just Gonta here now.”

He swallowed. “Oh, um, I’m sorry to hear that.” In the back of his mind, it now made sense why Momota’s grandparents visited often.

 

There was a long, awkward silence as Gonta put whatever he’d caught away. Shuichi and Akamatsu shared a look; he sort of hoped she had an excuse to leave prepared. The thought made him feel bad; he shouldn’t be so negative just because the bugs were making him anxious.

“I see you have a lot of bugs, Gonta-kun,” Akamatsu commented, the slightest tremble in her voice. Immediately, Gonta stiffened, before he practically sprinted back over to them.

“Oh! Do you like bugs?!” He shouted, an intense look on his face. When they hesitantly stuttered in response, that quickly changed to furious. “Do you hate bugs?!”

“No! I, I love bugs?” Akamatsu quickly nodded in agreement with his rebuttal. Honestly though, all that he could think of when he thought of bugs were the Beetle Shadows. He definitely didn’t like them, but...

 

Gonta sighed, expression returning to happy. “That’s good.” He paused, then shrunk. “Ah, sorry, Gonta didn’t mean to yell. Bugs are... Bugs are very important. All Gonta has are bugs.”

“It’s fine,” he responded, before biting his lip nervously, “Um, only bugs?”

“Yes, only bugs,” he answered, looking sad again, “Gonta woke up one day, no idea who Gonta was, no friends or family.” He rubbed a thumb under his glasses. “But Gonta knows bugs; they and the shrine make Gonta feel happy.” He forced a smile. Shuichi’s heart hurt for him.

“Wow...” Akamatsu sounded equally as moved by his tragic backstory, moving to place a hand on his arm. “Well, don’t worry! We’ll be your friends!”

 

Gonta looked as surprised as Shuichi felt. “Oh, really? Thank you!” Before he could even blink, the two of them were pulled into a hug that lifted them off the ground. “You can visit Gonta whenever! Gonta will be a good host for you, promise!”

“Right, we’ll do that,” Shuichi wheezed, patting on his shoulder in hopes that he would let go. Thankfully, it didn’t take too long for him to get the idea and put them down. It took even less time for them to say their goodbyes after that, ducking out of the shrine before they could accidentally rile him up again.

 

“Well, he seems nice?” Akamatsu nervously laughed when he brought it up again later that night, the green moonlight casting long shadows across the meeting room as she filled the silence with music. Shuichi nodded in agreement, resting his eyes as all aches seeped out of his body.


	29. Decisions

**July 11, 201X - 7:01pm**

“Sorry Shuichi, hope you don’t mind if we skip training this week,” Momota said, scratching the back of his head, “Just tryin’ to get some studying done, you know?”

“Of course. You want to join me then?” He gestured to his notes on the kitchen table.

Momota winced in response. “Uh, sorry, not today. Kinda was just wanting to cram some on my own. No offense or anything.”

He kept his disappointment off his face as he nodded. “That’s fine. Have a good night then?”

He gave Shuichi a half smile. “Yeah, g’night. Good luck with your studying.” He gave him a quick pat on the shoulder, before leaving to head upstairs. At which point, Shuichi let the polite smile on his face drop, sighing and shaking his head before attempting to regain focus.

 

Any focus he recovered was lost minutes later by Harukawa coming downstairs. She didn’t glance towards him as she walked past, heading outside. He paused, watching the door for a minute in curiosity. Seconds after he turned his attention away again, she reentered, looking around the lobby until her eyes landed on him.

“Where’s Momota?”

“Studying,” he responded, “Why?”

She paused for a long moment. “Nevermind.” She crossed her arms, wavering in place for another minute, before heading back outside. Shuichi pinched the bridge of his nose and reluctantly got up to follow after her.

 

He had to stop outside the dorm entrance, having already lost sight of her in the seconds it took to get to the door. Thankfully, she reappeared quickly, jogging around a corner.

“Saihara.” She stopped as she passed back in front of the building. “What are you doing?”

“That’s what I wanted to ask you. Are you, um, are you training?”

She sighed. “So what if I am?”

He hesitated. “Were you wanting to train with Momota-kun and I?”

Her gaze flickered. “No. I’m just restless because track practice is on hold for finals.”

He didn’t understand why she was lying, but he didn’t press it. “Well, can I join you then?”

“Whatever, I can’t stop you.” She turned away, resuming her jogging. He reluctantly hurried after her, suddenly determined to speak further with her.

 

Of course, not much talking was going to happen while they ran around the block a handful of times. Nor did it happen in the minutes that followed with him trying to catch his breath and her lapping him twice more before stopping herself.

They stood in awkward silence for a long minute before Harukawa initiated conversation, much to his surprise. “You have that same annoying expression as Momota. If you have something you want to say, then just say it.”

He felt his face flush. “Ah, really? Sorry, um, it’s just... Well, there’s a lot of things I wanted to ask, actually.”

“And there’s a lot of ways I can say no, many of which don’t involve words.” At his wince, she paused, lips tightening. “Whatever, ignore that. Just spit it out already.”

He hesitated, but ultimately asked, “Where were you on Sunday?”

 

She gave him a sharp glance, before glaring into the dormitory as she answered. “You’re nosy. I just had to get the radar fixed; I dropped it when we were fighting the Lovers.”

He swallowed. “Oh, okay. Sorry.” He paused. “Um, well, now that we have Iruma-san, at least, well, I don’t, um, I don’t think we’ll need the radar anymore?”

“Perhaps.” Her expression remained tight, making him wonder if he said something wrong. He nervously wrung his hands. “You’ll be taking her to Tartarus then, I assume?”

“Well, yes, mainly because she demanded to come along.”

She shook her head. “I don’t see what draws you to that place. It’s just a tower.”

“A tower full of Shadows,” he pointed out, “Doesn’t it seem like it has _something_ to do with the Dark Hour?”

“I really don’t care if it does or not,” she bluntly responded. As to be expected-

 

“But,” she continued on, “I now see your point in climbing higher. I’ve been thinking that it might not be a horrible idea to get more involved in the training.”

He blinked. “Oh, really? Why?”

“Thinking back to Saturday, it just feels like... you were right when you said that I’ve plateaued. Most Shadows still fall quickly when I fight them, but those two...”

He bit his lip nervously, also thinking back. “You beat the Lovers so easily though. How, how did you do that? The, the machine gun thing?”

“It’s...” She paused. “It’s just something I’ve always been able to do.” She crossed her arms, looking away. “I can use a wide variety of ranged weapons. Handguns, shotguns, even a bow. If it’s meant to be used from afar, I’ve probably used it before.”

“Uh, that’s... Wow.” He shifted. “Why use a crossbow then?”

She answered quickly, as if expecting his question. “It’s the one that comes most naturally, and it costs a lot less mental energy to use. The others have their benefits, but for normal Shadows, there’s nothing wrong with just sticking to the most efficient one.”

“Benefits?”

 

“Do I have to explain everything to you?” She sighed. “Higher rate of fire, larger, stronger bullets, stuff like that that makes fighting certain Shadows easier.”

“Oh, right, um, I see.”

“I don’t really like switching that much though. It’s tiring having to dig into my psyche to force the change. They all say it’s something that gets easier with time, but even now...” Her melancholy words confused Shuichi.

“‘They all’? Who?”

She stiffened. “Forget it. It’s nothing important.”

He frowned. “You always do this. You say something, then you backtrack. We’re supposed to be in this together, but you won’t tell us anything about what’s going on. Is there a reason you’re always purposefully vague?”

 

She responded to his accusation with a full-on glare. “What, so when you all keep stuff from me, it’s fine, but when I keep stuff from you it’s suddenly wrong?” He flinched back at the accuracy of her attack. “I’ve been doing this long enough that I know it’s stupid to trust every person you meet, even if we’re technically, as you said, in this together.”

He swallowed nervously as he attempted to remain strong. “See, even now you’re being vague. You give your reason, but then you provide no details to justify that reason. At the end of the day, it’s hard to know how much I can trust _you_ when you won’t talk to us about anything.”

She returned his rebuttal with a long, hard look. Involuntarily, his body shook, the stress of the argument shooting his anxiety through the roof. Finally, she sighed, tension seeping out of her face and shoulders. “Nine years.”

“What?”

“I’ve been fighting Shadows for nine years. So much of that was spent fighting and distrusting that I don’t... It’s better to keep it to myself than to burden the rest of you with it.”

 

Take his age, add a year, subtract- “You’ve been fighting them since you were eight?!”

“Eight or nine, yes.”

“Why?!”

“Does it matter?” She dismissed, “It’s just something that happened.”

He supposed it didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. And even if it did, getting Harukawa to open up this much was a battle in itself; he’d take this minor victory as an accomplishment.

 

There was a sense of finality to the conversation in the silence that followed. Shuichi didn’t dare press further, Harukawa’s suddenly tired expression weighing on him. That was a new one, one that made him feel almost bad for pushing back against her own shove.

“Sorry,” he finally said, rubbing his forearm in shame, “I didn’t mean to, um, to dig into your personal matters or anything.”

“It’s fine. Just...” She turned away from him, climbing the steps to the dorm’s entrance. “I know you have a bit of a loose mouth around the others, so just keep this to yourself. I don’t want them to come running to me wanting to hear about a tragic backstory or something stupid like that. I have better things to be doing with my time than lingering in the past.”

 

He didn’t say it, but just looking at her, Shuichi got the impression that she did enough of that on her own.

 

* * *

**July 14, 201X - 3:35pm**

He was waiting for Momota to get out of the bathroom when his arm was suddenly yanked, throwing him off balance and sending him stumbling after the person pulling him. Which, surprise surprise, was none other than Ouma.

“Ouma-kun!” He dug his heels in, attempting to jerk his arm away. “What are you doing?!”

Ouma stopped, looking at him with a pout. “C’mon, it’s time to hang out with _me._ You have so much time to hang out with everyone else, and honestly you should be honored I’m going out of my way to get you!”

“But-!”

“No buts! This is super important and super secret so we have to go to our secret hideout to discuss it!”

 

Shuichi had to wonder what god he pissed off that made Ouma have to do this right now. He just wanted to study with his two best friends, was that too much to ask?

He sighed, sitting down across from him. “So, Ouma-kun, what did you want to talk about.”

He gave Shuichi a grin, leaning back with his hands behind his head. “Well, I have an amazing proposition for my dearest detective. An offer so great, it’ll be completely irresistible.”

Well, that definitely sounded promising and absolutely not one of Ouma’s overhyped lies. “What is it?”

“I, Ouma Kokichi, would like for you...” He paused for dramatic effect. “To join me in my grand climb up Tartarus.”

 

He blinked. “Tartarus? With you?”

“Yep! Isn’t that exciting?” It was hard to tell if Ouma was genuinely excited, the wide smile on his face edging into that grey area between real and fake.

“Well-” Shuichi hesitated. “You know Harukawa-san is going to be there, r-”

His face went flat. “I’m inviting you to come with me, not me to join your ragtag mess of a team. No offense, Saihara-chan.”

He paused, taking in the implications of the offer. “Um, alone? Just the two of us?”

Ouma’s gaze flickered off him. “Well, I mean, I _guess_ you could bring Akamatsu-chan and Iruma-chan. As long as they promise to keep their mouths shut.”

 

Shuichi frowned. As he continued absorbing Ouma’s words, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He delayed answering him by pulling it out.

[3:41pm] Momota: Shuichi?????? where u go bro???

[3:42pm] Shuichi: sorry, Ouma-kun dragged me off

[3:42pm] Shuichi: go ahead, I’ll catch up in a bit

He left it at that, more than aware of Ouma’s stare digging into him as he typed his response. As if daring him to relay the conversation to whoever was disturbing their talk. He returned his phone to his pocket, taking a deep breath. “Why just them? I can understand not wanting to be around Harukawa-san, and even Chabashira-san, but... Are you still mad at Momota-kun for what happened on Saturday?”

 

Ouma shifted, resting his head on his palm. “I’m not mad at him. He actually unblocked me for five minutes to apologize, so how could I be mad?” He gave him a wide grin. “But I don’t really want to climb with him, so he’s not invited.”

“Why not? It’s better to have more people, right? And, and you haven’t had a problem with him coming along before.”

He hummed. “You know, a person’s strength is clear by the color of their weapon. And, well, I think that Momota-chan’s sword is a bad color.”

“A bad color?”

“Mhm. The wrong color. He’s only gonna get weaker, you know.” The wide grin stretched further across his face. “So that’s why you should ditch him before he gets you hurt.”

 

“Hurt us?” A burst of anger swelled in his chest. “You’re wrong. If anything, _you’re_ the one that’s always putting us in danger’s way.” When Ouma didn’t respond aside from his expression flattening again, Shuichi continued. “You, you drag us along on these expeditions, popping up during ours when we’re trying to keep ourselves alive, and, and you distract us and almost never raise a finger to help even when things are dire.

“Honestly, I’ve been wondering if you even _can_ fight, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. Asking me to come with you, without any guarantee that it’s not going to be just me protecting the two of us, three or four if we bring Akamatsu-san or Iruma-san-” He paused, catching his breath. “It’s, it would be really stupid of me to accept.”

 

After a long period of silence, Ouma responded, “I could teach you a lot more than you’ll get out of your group. It would be dangerous, but not impossible. I wouldn’t ask the impossible of you, Saihara-chan.”

Shuichi met his unreadable expression with a level look. “But can I even trust you to actually do that? You never give me answers; hell, the more I interact with you, the more confused I get. The more unanswered questions I have. And I know that even asking a single one will just result in three more being added to the pile without gaining a concrete answer for the first one.” He averted his eyes. “I’m, I’m sure you have good intentions; I don’t think you’re dangerous, like Harukawa-san says. But I’m tired of being blindly dragged around. I have more important things to worry about.”

 

After another long pause, Ouma let out a dramatic sigh. “Well, if that’s how it’s going to be, I’ll give you some time to think about it.” When he opened his mouth to object needing any more time, he cut him off with, “But I haven’t lied to you today, Saihara-chan. Maybe those are empty words coming from a liar, but don’t forget what I’ve said.” With those final words, he was gone, leaving Shuichi as confused as he expected to be.


	30. Analysis

**July 15, 201X - 6:53pm**

“Fuck! I’m so fucking bored!” Iruma’s curse filled the quiet lounge. Those that weren’t completely braindead looked towards her, indulging her tantrum as she shoved her dinner away. “I wake up and have to immediately suck the fucking school’s dick because _apparently_ if you’re a genius, being in a coma doesn’t excuse you from missing exams. And now that we’re done with that boring ass shit, you’re all just gonna mope around?!”

“Who’s moping?” Momota barked back, “Can’t we enjoy a quiet meal every once in a while?”

“How the fuck am I supposed to enjoy my food when you’re slathering your nut all over that-”

“Just say peanut butter like a normal person!”

 

Akamatsu took control of the conversation before it could get out of hand. “Miu, Momota-kun, calm down.” Once they turned to her, she continued. “Now, is there something you want to do, Miu?”

“Of course there fucking is!” She loudly snapped, “I wanna go to Tartarus!”

“... Tonight?” Shuichi asked.

“When else?! C’mon, it’s Saturday night; it’s not like any of you have people to bang, so let’s get hot and sweaty with a different kind of action instead!”

When no one immediately responded, Shuichi looked around. “Well, um, I guess that isn’t a problem, if everyone’s up for it?”

 

With no objections, once the Dark Hour hit they made their way to Tartarus, group permanently bigger by two members. They paused in the lobby at Shuichi’s request; he wanted to hash out the details of the climb before getting started.

Starting with Iruma’s role. “So, um, how do you want to do this?” He gestured at nothing.

She looked around. “I think I’ll stay here in the lobby. I’m certain I can see and talk to you all even if you go up further. Plus...” Her eyes stared hungrily at the giant clock at the top of the stairs. “I wanna see if I can open up that bad boy up there.”

“Will you be safe though?” Akamatsu asked worriedly. “Maybe someone should stay down here with you-”

 

“I’ll be safe.” Iruma looked serious as she turned to face her sister. “As far as I can tell, normal Shadows don’t like this first floor. I think it’s these big teleporters-” She stepped over to the green device. “-that keep them away.”

Shuichi bit his lip in thought. “It’s true that the floors with these never seem to have regular ones... Just the guardians and those full moon ones.”

“See? So, I’ll just sit here; it’ll be easier to help if I’m not having to run around dodging ‘n’ shit.” She huffed. “And if something comes up, you’ll hear me yell, so there’s nothing to worry about.” Even if someone (Akamatsu, likely) had anything to say to that, she stalked up the stairs to look at the clock, forcing them to accept.

 

Well, she was probably safer here than in the dorm.

 

They headed up to floor 59, their last stopping point. He was surprised that for once, the next checkpoint wasn’t already activated. Ouma must not have visited yet. His words from the day before swam in his head as they quickly made their way to the now-gone barrier on 64.

The next floor revealed new scenery. Light blue walls, sleeker in design than the floors below. The hallways also felt narrower, perhaps from the bits of the wall that jutted out. He tried not to let it bother him; it wasn’t nearly as close-quarters as the train had been.

 

“Hey, pube-hair, can you hear me?” Iruma’s voice interrupted his thoughts. Not only his, but also those of his companions, from their expressions.

“Um, yes, we can,” he answered.

“Good. Alright, next test.” Suddenly, he was aware that the hallway split three ways up ahead. “You see that?”

“I... I did.” It wasn’t exactly _seeing,_ but it was close enough. The awareness of the hallway didn’t fade even as her mumbling filled his thoughts.

“Alright, one more thing... Let’s see... Go down the hall a bit. Turn right.” They followed her directions until the hallway he could see in his mind extended far enough that he was aware of a Shadow nearby.

 

“There we go!” She shouted, causing Shuichi to wince, “It’s a Maya! Good place to start!” Like a television set, the hallway she projected clicked off, allowing him to focus better on reality. He was still aware of the Shadow up ahead, and the four of them that were fighters quickly prepared for a battle.

As they approached the three Maya, Iruma began her promised analysis. “Hierophants. Either Shithara or Ho- um, Ha-Harukawa should take ‘em out.” They pulsed with an orange light. “They’re weak to piercing attacks, so ranged attacks are perfect unless you’re ready to pull your pants down-” By the time she finished her innuendo, he and Harukawa had already defeated them.

 

Unfortunately, he really wasn’t seeing a ton of use for her analysis. Harukawa’s help seemed to be a lot more effective; even only using a crossbow, she easily mowed down any enemy they came across.

“Um, you know...” Akamatsu interrupted as they defeated a new Tower Shadow, hands falling off soft green keys. “Should Harukawa-san be fighting so much if she’s still so much stronger than them?”

She raised a brow. “They’re not fleeing from me; I can’t be that much stronger.”

Akamatsu hesitated, then glanced to Shuichi for his input. He nervously licked his lips. “Well, I think she might have a point...” He tried to think of an alternative solution other than “don’t fight”. “What if, um, what if you only defeat one in groups of Shadows two or larger? Then the rest of us will have the chance to fight as well.”

 

She considered his alternative and agreed. While it returned their battles to the previous level of difficulty, it made Momota and Chabashira happier as they got to defeat Shadows as well.

They climbed, and as they did so, Iruma suddenly interrupted again as they were walking down an empty hallway. “Oh shit! I can fucking see it!” They paused, waiting for her to continue. “Floor 72! That’s the next checkpoint!” They were on 68, currently, so that was close!

“Thank you, Iruma-san,” Shuichi honestly responded, causing her to sputter.

“No, no problem..!” She trailed off, then suddenly shouted another “oh shit!”

“What?!” Momota clutched the bridge of his nose. “Do you have to shout?!”

 

“There’s a big group of Shadows to your left!” That was all the warning they had as two Snakes and two Books spun around the nearest corner, ready for battle. Said battle went far better than their previous encounter with a Snake did, at least, it was until the last Book suddenly hovered out of their reach, emitting a black fog similar to the one that Iruma informed earlier caused something akin to poisoning. However-

“Fuck, it’s using dark magic! Get the fuck away from it, that shit can kill you faster than you can come!” None of them had to be told twice as they scattered. At least, none of them except Harukawa, who calmly let it fall around her as she raised her crossbow and shot the Shadow, defeating it with one shot.

 

“Harukawa-san, are you okay?!” Chabashira shouted in alarm, running over once the murky fog had cleared.

She turned to her unfazed. “Of course. Iruma’s overreacting; it’s not always deadly.”

“Not always..?! Harukawa-san, just because it’s not always going to kill you doesn’t mean you shouldn’t avoid it anyway!” Shuichi responded, trying to keep his voice from rising to a shout from his building anxiety.

She looked to him, then away again. “Whatever. It’s dead now, so let’s keep moving.” She paused. “And Iruma, if you sense any Shadows with light or dark skills, tell us about them _first._ As Saihara said, we don’t need unnecessary risk.”

 

They made it up the next few floors without incident, reaching floor 72 sore and tired in a good workout way. While they paused, waiting for Iruma to examine the guardian Shadows, Shuichi couldn’t help but notice something odd: the exit device was already activated. He brought his hand up to cover his mouth, thinking about the implication. He had an idea, but he couldn’t ask Iruma with Harukawa standing right there...

“Alright, I got it! Three Gigas, they seem pretty tough. Wouldn’t surprise me if you guys ended up fucked in the ass by these ba-”

“Then we’ll stop here for now,” Shuichi said before she could finish her vulgarities. The group nodded in agreement, heading out one by one, Shuichi the last to go.

 

“Say, Iruma-san, were we the only ones here?”

She didn’t immediately respond. “Of course you fuckin’ were. Don’t be stupid.”

 

* * *

**July 16, 201X - 1:44pm**

His phone was ringing. He paused his reading, pulling it out of his pocket to check it, smiling and answering when it was only his uncle.

“Hello, Uncle,” he greeted, “How are you?”

“Hey Shuichi. Been good. Work.” His answers were straight to the point as always. “I have a case for you, if you’re free to travel. Summer break is hitting soon, right?”

A case involving traveling? That sounded nice... “Yes, it starts on the 20th, um, Thursday. I’ll send you my final results on the 19th.” He paused. “Um, tell me about the case though?”

 

“So, there’s this small European country that has been reaching out to detectives across the world, trying to get someone that can solve one of their cold cases. Theft of animals or something. Apparently, it’s been a building problem for a year or so but they haven’t found any new evidence.”

He paused. “So I’d be traveling to Europe? That’s, um, that’s pretty far. Shouldn’t you do this one..?”

“They’ve already offered to cover travel and lodging, so that’s not an issue. Problem is, I’m really tied up in the case I’m working on. Real messy affair, my hands are looking to be full for at least the next month. If it doesn’t go anywhere with you, don’t worry about it; they’re just trying to get input from anyone at this point. It’s a cold case, Shuichi, it’s going to be difficult no matter who’s looking at it.”

 

He hesitated. “Well, I suppose I could try... Though I was wanting to hang out with my friends this summer...” They still had to climb Tartarus too, to properly prepare for the upcoming full moon in about three weeks.

Uncle sighed. “I understand. I’ll pass along your contact information to them, just try to respond in a timely manner, alright? If it’s too much, you can always say no; this isn’t your job, I just thought you might be interested. Not every kid gets to travel that far away.”

“Right, um, I’ll remember that...” After some idle chatter, he ended the call. Shuichi sighed, uncertain about the summer to come.

 

* * *

from: **Sonia Nevermind** <sonia@novoselic.gov>  
to: **Saihara Shuichi** <saihara.shuu1@pmail.com>  
subject: Hello Saihara-tantei!

Greetings!

I would like to cordially invite you to my humble country of Novoselic! For quite a while now, the people of my country have been reporting their prized Makangos suddenly disappearing. The Makango is a creature native to my country. It is very important to my people and our culture. I implore you to accept my invitation and investigate this case to your heart’s content! I will make arrangements for travel and housing, so please respond at your convenience the timeframe in which you would be able to come, and how long you would be fine with staying.

Also, your uncle that sent me to you has mentioned your concern with friends. You may bring them along! It is no problem, the more the merrier!

You have my many praise in advance!

Princess Sonia Nevermind of Novoselic


	31. Preparations

**July 18, 201X - 7:30pm**

“Alright, Shuichi, what’s up,” Momota asked, interrupting his sit-ups, “You looked more stressed than usual. Worried about tomorrow?”

Shuichi let himself fall back down, resting on the soft grass they exercised in. “Um, well, I’m not  _ not _ worried about tomorrow...” He was certain there’d never be a test in his life that he wouldn’t stress over the results. “But, well... You know how summer break is almost here..?”

He grinned. “Of course! It’s gonna be great, right Harumaki?” He glanced to her.

She sighed from her seat on the dorm’s steps. “Don’t call me that.” Shuichi was surprised she was still hanging around when she’d finished her sit-ups ten minutes ago at least. “Continue, Saihara.”

“Ah, right, well...”

 

He quickly explained the invitation he’d gotten, trying not to stumble over his words too much from the anticipation of having to decide if he would accept or decline. He’d already weighed all the pros and cons and created five different outcomes fueled by his intrusive thoughts, all of which were irrational but still created knots of anxiety in his stomach.

“... Novoselic? Where the hell is that?” Momota asked as he finished, scratching the back of his head.

As he was pulling out his phone to show him it on the map, Harukawa sighed, “If I didn’t know you, I’d say you were making all this up.” She paused, running a hand through her hair. “But it sounds nice; you should accept.”

 

He swallowed, nervous. “I- I don’t know if I should. I mean, I want to spend time with you all, and I’m sure you don’t want to drop everything you all already have planned to go on a work trip with me, so-”

“Are you kidding, Shuichi?” Momota interrupted, “If that’s what you’re worried about, worry no further!” He grinned. “I mean, who the hell  _ wouldn’t _ want to visit a foreign country? I mean, I definitely would join you, and I’m sure Harumaki and Akamatsu wouldn’t say no-”

“Sorry to burst your bubble, but I’ll have to pass.” Harukawa shook her head. Shuichi felt the anxiety that had been settling from Momota’s comfort spike again.

“What?! Why?!”

 

“I don’t have a passport,” she answered simply, “And I have no plans on getting one anytime soon, so I’ll pass.”

Momota sputtered for a moment before accepting her answer. “W-Well, alright then.” He glanced back to Shuichi. “Don’t worry, I’m sure Akamatsu’ll come! She definitely has a passport; she went to America last year!” He grabbed Shuichi’s arm, causing him to shout in alarm as he was suddenly dragged inside, presumably to find the girl in question.

“You know, I can walk on my own!” Shuichi stuttered as they climbed up to the fourth floor.

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it!”

 

He finally let go when they reached the meeting room, the soft sounds of Akamatsu playing the piano reaching their ears. Of course she was in there; when wasn’t she? They quietly entered the room, not wanting to disturb her too much.

Inside, their attention immediately fell on Iruma, surrounded by a pile of metal and tools, building... something... Shuichi wasn’t sure what it was, just that it involved a lot of monitors and even more wires. From the welding mask on her face and clear immersion in her building, however, Shuichi chose not to ask, diverting his attention to the room’s other occupants. Chabashira sat on the couch, appearing to be meditating, while Akamatsu was exactly where she was expected to be at the piano.

 

“Hey, Akamatsu,” Momota greeted as they approached her, surprising quiet for once, “Can we talk for a minute?”

She slowly paused, opening her eyes and turning around to face them. “Of course, is something wrong?”

“Well, not wrong, but...” He glanced to Shuichi, giving him the chance to explain before continuing. “Shuichi’s thinking of going out of the country for- uh, how long?” He glanced back.

Shuichi swallowed. “Um, well, I haven’t decided yet... It’s a cold case, so it could take a long time to solve...” If he could solve it at all. He winced. “Maybe a week..? If I can’t solve it or make any progress, that’s probably as long as I’d want to attempt it...” He trailed off, nervously rubbing at his arm.

Kaito nodded. “Yeah, alright, but anyway, he wants us to come along so are you down? Harumaki said she couldn’t, no passport, but you’re good there right?”

 

She hummed. “Yeah, mine’s still good. Where are we going?” As Shuichi explained again, Momota went and made the stupid decision of bothering Chabashira, getting thrown to the floor as punishment for disturbing her. Ouch.

“Novoselic...” Akamatsu mumbled as he finished, wasting no time doing the predictable action of looking it up, “Oh, their website has pictures... It looks like a beautiful place.”

Shuichi hesitated. “Um, does that mean you want to go..?”

“Of course! Why wouldn’t we want to?” With Akamatsu echoing Momota, he relaxed a bit.

“I don’t know. I just... Thought maybe it’d be too intimidating or boring or something...” He reached up to fidget with his hat, but settled for pulling at a strand of his hair. “I mean, going to an unfamiliar country where you probably don’t speak the same language...”

 

Akamatsu messed with her phone for a moment. “Their website has a bunch of different languages, including Japanese and English. I’m sure they have translators if they’re inviting Japanese detectives, at least. You said you received an email, right? How was their Japanese?”

“Oh, well, it was pretty good, actually...” He paused. So, he really was overreacting per usual. “I guess you’re right. Sorry.”

She shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. I know it’s stressful to travel out of the country.” She paused herself, before looking over to Iruma. “Hey, Miu, come here for a minute.” When she didn’t respond, Akamatsu shouted her name again, and she turned off the welding gun and tore her mask off with a huff.

 

“What is it?! I’m fucking busy!” She snapped. Since it was clear she wasn’t moving from her seat on the floor, the two of them walked over to her instead.

“I’m going on vacation with Saihara-kun and Momota-kun, want to come?”

She hesitated. “What, and be a fourth wheel? I dunno, that sounds like- like I’d be butting in on quality time with your boyfriends.”

Akamatsu firmly ignored her unfound comments. “I’m asking because I want you to come. You won’t be butting in on anything and you know it.” While she started to convince Iruma to come, Shuichi checked up on the situation with Chabashira and Momota, walking over to them when they were actually having a civil conversation.

 

“Eugh, just the three of you? Alone with Kaede-san?” ... Okay, maybe not a civil conversation. “Maybe Tenko should- But this is important- Grrrrr...” She looked very frustrated.

“If you can’t come, it’s okay,” Momota responded, “Your Aikido’s important to you, don’t give it up because you feel like you gotta protect Akamatsu from us, ‘cause you really don’t need to. Haven’t we proved enough that we’re not gonna hurt her?”

“It could’ve all been an act to get me to lower my guard! There’s plenty of men that are able to contain themselves until the right moment, like sleeping beasts waiting for women to slip up!” She was particularly agitated. “Plus, I don’t need  _ you _ to tell me that, you slacker!”

“Slacker?! C’mon, I train plenty!” He glanced in Shuichi’s direction, eyes widening when he noticed him standing right there. “Oh, Shuichi! C’mon, help me out here!”

 

“Um...” He turned to Chabashira. “So, you can’t come?”

She crossed her arms. “I... I already have plans. I’m going to be in Nara from the 20th till the 28th, visiting my parents and Aikido master.”

Shuichi bit his lip. That meant that even if they didn’t go to Novoselic, then they would just be sitting around, unable to investigate Tartarus unless they relied too much on Harukawa. “Well, um, like Momota-kun said, that sounds really important to you.”

She huffed. “It is.” She took a moment, looking Shuichi over with a scrutinizing glare. “Well, Tenko supposes she can trust Saihara-san to not be a disgusting degenerate towards Kaede-san...”

 

“Oh, is Tenko-san busy?” Speaking of Akamatsu, she came over to join them, Iruma following close behind, hiding in her sister’s shadow. “That’s sad, it would’ve been nice to have all of us, well, Harukawa-san aside.”

Chabashira hesitated. “Kaede-san- I- Tenko can’t... I’m so sorry!” She looked genuinely upset that she had to decline an invitation from Akamatsu. Shuichi briefly wondered if she would’ve dropped her plans if all three of the other girls on the team were going.

“Well, it looks like it’s just the four of us, then,” Momota said, scratching at his chin, “So, how about the 24th to the 29th? Not quite a week, but it’ll be plenty of time. Save us and them from having to rush to prepare while not being gone too much longer than Chabashira.”

Shuichi, Akamatsu, and Iruma nodded in agreement to the dates, and with the chosen dates Shuichi went to write a reply accepting the offer.

 

* * *

**July 19, 201X - 5:49pm**

“Top of the class again, Shuichi. Man, I knew you could do it!” Momota praised for easily the thirtieth time since they received their scores. It didn’t stop Shuichi from flushing at the praise yet again, ducking his head.

“C’mon, Iruma-san still scored higher than me...”

“But you scored a point higher than Ouma! That’s easily an accomplishment!”

“One point is nothing.”

“Says you! Don’t put yourself down!” He gave Shuichi another too-hard pat on the back, looking across the room to Harukawa. “By the way, what did you get, Harumaki?” He looked excited to find out if he other “sidekick” had done well.

 

But... “No idea,” Harukawa responded, “I didn’t look at the results.”

Momota looked as flabbergasted as Shuichi felt. “What?! Why?!”

“I don’t care what I got. I think it’s stupid.” Her response wasn’t unexpected, but he didn’t realize her apathy extended so far.

“But- But it’s your responsibility as a student! What’ll you tell your parents?!”

 

“Well, what did you get if you’re so riled up about grades?” Harukawa responded harshly, words holding a level of defensive anger that was unexpected from the line of questioning, “If you’re so interested in mine, you should be willing to divulge yours.”

“I did fine! 8th in the class is great, right Shuichi?!”

He nodded, not really wanting to get involved in their argument. But still... “Is something wrong, Harukawa-san? Do you, um, have problems with your grades? Or maybe, um, your parents..?” She wouldn’t be alone there if it was the latter.

“It’s none of your business. Anyway, don’t you need to be packing?” Her clear attempt at redirecting the conversation was all Shuichi needed to tell that something was definitely going on.

 

But while Momota would gladly hound her all day for answers, Shuichi could tell when the conversation was over and back off. “You’re right. We’ll be out of your hair, then.” He pulled Momota out of the front room to get him to leave her alone as well, causing him to protest.

“Shuichi! C’mon, I’m trying to get her to open up!”

“I know you are,” he softly responded once they were far enough away, “But she’ll talk when she’s ready. Don’t you think it’s better to let her come to us rather than pushing her until she snaps? If she’s not ready, forcing an answer out of her is just going to make her more defensive.”

He sighed, scratching the back of his head. “I mean, I guess you’re right. It’s just frustrating; it’s been over four months since I met her and I still feel like I barely know her. Don’t you think so too?”

He nodded. “I agree. But we need to be patient and focus on packing, alright? She’s not going anywhere.”

 

At Shuichi’s reassurance, Momota let it go, allowing them to begin their preparations for their upcoming vacation.


	32. Arrival

**July 24-25, 201X**

Their final departure out of Japan was timed surprisingly well - the Dark Hour hit before their plane left the ground, settling their fears for what would happen if it occurred while they were in the air. Momota was the only one to express disappointment, recalling the conversation he’d had with Ouma months before. Shuichi wasn’t sure if he wanted Momota to be proven right, seeing as his stance on the subject was that the planes would fall out of the sky.

 

The main perk to having an overnight flight, however, was that at least some of the jetlag would be averted by them sleeping through most of the 12-hour flight. Well, at least for some of them; Iruma, while clearly having more experience flying than Shuichi, was far more panicked than he was, refusing to sleep when Akamatsu prompted her to. Her very vocal anxiety put him on edge as well, making falling asleep himself more of a struggle than he anticipated. He fell asleep around 4am JST, waking periodically the remaining 8 hours of their flight.

 

While their flight landed at what was noon in Japan, all the local clocks read five in the morning, leaving the airport quiet and sleepy. That didn’t help him nor Iruma, the latter looking like she was going to pass out at any second. In fact, Shuichi was sure she was taking a power nap standing up while the four of them waited in the unsurprisingly short immigration line. Akamatsu carefully pulled her along, not appearing to mind too much that she was drooling on her shoulder.

“She always like this?” Momota asked, the only one of them that looked wide awake.

“Well, ever since her first coma, she’s had problems sleeping. She normally just runs until she passes out.” The worry was clear on her face as she explained. “She used to be good about flying though; her sleep anxiety must’ve made it worse.”

 

Once they reached the end of the line and her power nap was concluded, Iruma returned to her easily irritable self, still clearly sleep deprived as she grumbled and moaned about having to dig out her passport and wait for them to check it over. The fact that they started speaking to her and Akamatsu in English didn’t help her mood, causing her to complain about not wanting to translate in her head while she was tired. They quickly switched to Japanese after that, impressing Shuichi with their multilingual abilities; he’d expected them to need to call out a translator, but they had little problems dealing with their native language and sending them off.

 

His first impression of Novoselic was very positive so far. From the large windows of the airport, beautiful mountains and wide grassy fields could be seen. The rising dawn made the scenery shimmer, the hint of sunlight reflecting off the morning dew.

The pictures their website had shown off - though stunning - didn’t do it proper justice. While Akamatsu and Momota went to find the baggage claim, he admired the landscape with Iruma. Or, well, he would be if she wasn’t napping again.

 

“Alright, got some good news and some bad news,” Momota reported upon their return, no luggage in tow, “Bad news is we didn’t find it. But the good news is we found some people expecting your arrival, and it sounds like they’re going to take our bags on ahead, so that’s cool.”

“Ughhhh thank god, I didn’t want to carry my shit around anyway,” Iruma groaned, jerking back awake.

Shuichi blinked. “Waiting for me?”

Akamatsu nodded. “They had this sign that said ‘Welcome to Novoselic, Saihara-tantei’, so I assume they’re your welcoming party.” She maneuvered between him and Iruma, gently grabbing him by the wrist and linking her arm with her sister’s. “So, let’s go!”

 

She pulled them in the direction they had returned from, ignoring Shuichi’s quiet protests of being dragged around. Momota easily matched their pace, looking relaxed as he took one last look around the airport on their way out.

Near the exit, the group Akamatsu was talking about were waiting, a small group of black-suited men and women surrounded a girl with fair skin and blonde hair, dressed elegantly and emitting a powerful aura. Shuichi swallowed nervously; from the security and her appearance, she must be the princess he was communicating with.

 

“Greetings, Saihara-tantei and friends!” She loudly exclaimed as they approached, breaking free of her ring of defense to welcome them. “I am Sonia Nevermind, and I welcome you to my humble kingdom of Novoselic! I am honored that you were able to come on such short notice!” Her Japanese was almost indistinguishable from a native speaker, only the slightest hint of an accent betraying her.

“Ah, it’s no problem,” Shuichi responded, “And ‘kun’ is fine; I’m only my uncle’s apprentice, not a full-fledged detective.”

“Very well, Saihara-kun! Please, feel free to just call me ‘Sonia’; I do not require any formalities!” She paused, tilting her head. “So, who are your friends?”

 

Shuichi hurriedly introduced them before they, well, before  _ Iruma _ could introduce herself. That wouldn’t go over well, he was sure. Once introductions were out of the way, Sonia clapped her hands together with a wide smile, very clearly excited to have them as they were shuffled out of the building and to a small limo. The four of them hesitantly got in, unused to the novelty before them.

The tension in the car quickly got to Shuichi as they drove away, causing him to speak up. “Well, um, unless you’d rather wait until later, I’m, um, a debriefing wouldn’t hurt too much..?” He scratched at his arm nervously, uncertain if he was supposed to ask after it or be patient.

Thankfully, she didn’t seem to take offense to his request. “Oh, of course!” She pulled out her phone, tapping at it for a moment before passing it to Shuichi. “Here is what an adult Makango looks like! As you can see, they’re quite large at full size.”

 

“Quite large” was an understatement; these- these  _ things _ looked to be the size of horses, though were clearly  _ not _ horses. The closest animal he could compare them to were giant chickens, honestly. Or perhaps peacocks, from the wide spectrum of colors and elegant, long tail feathers. He tried not to shudder at it, uncomfortably reminded of the Eagle Shadows.

“So, uh, how large is large?” Momota asked, looking over his shoulder.

Sonia smiled pleasantly at his question. “The largest ones are about two and a half meters tall.” Shuichi coughed in surprise. That was too big!

She continued with a frown at his shock. “Yes, they are bigger than most pets.” Most?! “That is why this is simply a puzzling case; we cannot figure out where the culprit would keep such large animals.”

 

Shuichi brought a hand to his mouth in thought. “When do they go missing? Could it be a predator?” He hoped not, seeing as anything that could kill that would immediately be the most terrifying thing he’d ever heard of.

She thankfully shook her head sadly. “Fortunately, Makangos have no predators here in Novoselic. However, they cannot survive for an extended period of time in the wild. I fear it may be too late for the ones that have been missing for more than a month, if they’ve simply escaped out of their enclosures.” She paused. “Oh, but they typically go missing in the evening. They’re often called in missing when their owners go to feed them dinner and discover they’re no longer there!”

“I see...” He paused, wanting to make sure he had all his bases covered before he tried to develop any working theories. “Any surveillance put in place?”

 

“Yes, but so far nothing has been caught. Locks are useless as well, since Makangos are very skilled at breaking them. They do not like to be trapped in any location, but this normally isn’t a problem, since they are very attached to their owners and do not wander without reason.” She sighed. “Novoselic’s crime rate was at an all time low before this missing case started earlier this year.”

“How many are missing?” Akamatsu asked, curiosity taking over.

She bit her lip. “19, which may sound like a low number, but it affects the lives of more than 40 people. Makangos are a physical representation of a couple’s dedication towards each other - it’s been very stressful on the relationships of my citizens.”

Shuichi almost wished he’d invited Shinguuji; he had the feeling that he would be very interested in the culture surrounding the Makango.

 

Unfortunately, his own interest was only a passing thought, and he quickly moved on to other topics surrounding the investigation, including potential progress made by those that came before him and by the Novoselic’s own investigation. The result of his questioning, however, was that they were still basically at step one: knowing almost absolutely nothing.

He frowned, tapping his pen against the notebook he’d pulled out to jot down what he knew so far. “So, what is your strategy for tackling this? Will I just be given free reign, or will I be working with your investigation unit?”

“Which either you prefer; the only request I have is that you meet with our head researcher. He’s been trying to help with the investigation as well, in his own way.”

 

She paused, looking at the time. “Unfortunately, he’s largely nocturnal, so you’ll have to wait until later this evening to meet with him. I hope that won’t be a problem.”

Shuichi shook his head. “No, not a problem at all. I imagine we’ll need some time to get settled anyway.”

“So, are we saying at a hotel or what?” Iruma butted in, “Cause last time we went to a hotel, it was on the fucking news the next day.” One could’ve heard a pin drop in the panicked silence that followed her blunt statement, for more than just her language in front of a  _ princess. _

 

“That must have been one hell of a party!” Sonia responded after a minute, eyes shining?! “I only wish that I could attend such a ‘baller’ party, as they say!” ... Shuichi wasn’t sure anyone said that?

Iruma, however, laughed loudly in response. “Oh it was a party alright! Wasn’t it Saihara?” She looked like she would’ve elbowed him roughly, if not for Akamatsu sitting in-between them. He was more than thankful for that; he had the impression that if she had been able to, it would’ve been far more painful than he could deal with at the moment.

 

* * *

**4:50pm CEST | 11:50pm JST**

They ended up in one of the side buildings to Sonia’s castle (a real life castle?!) made for visitors, and they spent the rest of the morning and into the afternoon exploring the building and its surroundings like normal tourists. Iruma had thankfully passed out as soon as she hit the bed in the suite provided to her and Akamatsu, providing the three of them some peace of mind that she wouldn’t say the wrong thing to the wrong person.

 

Lunch was served with the most delicious chocolate any of them had ever tasted. According to Sonia, wine and chocolate were Novoselic’s specialities. They were offered the former as well, but they politely declined. He was thankful he didn’t have to talk Momota out of drinking it; in fact, he was the first one to refuse. Something about how astronauts couldn’t be alcoholics or something; Shuichi was too busy overcoming his surprise to really hear his reasoning.

 

Finally, a meeting was set up with the head researcher for 5:30pm. They were informed, however, to show up at 5:17 at the latest; apparently, any later was considered rude in Novoselic culture. Shuichi always thought culture shock was a bit of a joke, but that was turning out to be even worse than jetlag.

 

As they were heading back to the bedrooms, they were forced to stop abruptly as a familiar phenomenon swept over the world.

“The Dark Hour?” Momota breathed out, confusion filling his expression and his tone. “But- It’s-” He frowned, eyebrows scrunching together.

“It’s midnight in Japan,” Shuichi shakily answered. He wasn’t expecting this anymore than the other two. “I- I guess it happens at different times in other time zones, but-”

 

“Hey, shitheads!” Iruma’s booming voice filled their ears. “Would you get your heads outta your asses and come get me already?! I’m fucking lost and kinda scared so-”

“Scared?!” Akamatsu was quick to interrupt. “Are you okay?! Are you in danger?!”

“I don’t fucking know!” She wailed in response, “I just sense something nearby and- and I don’t know what the fuck it is!”


	33. Kiibo

**July 25, 201X - Dark Hour**

“C’mon, c’mon c’mon c’mon!” Iruma urged into their minds, continuously begging them to come pick her up from the room she’d holed herself up in. Apparently, whatever she was sensing was neither Shadow nor human on the basis that she couldn’t scan it nor could she communicate with it.

“Hold your horses, we’re still another hall over,” Momota grumbled under his breath, leading them forward as she projected directions into their minds.

“How close is it? Is it moving?” Akamatsu asked, starting to get visibly worn out from the running they were doing across the large building.

“It was in a room nearby, then it left and passed by where I’m at a few minutes ago. It’s outside right now, by that huge ass fountain. Staying put, thank fuck.”

 

So it was relatively far away, whatever it was. That was somewhat comforting. “Any actual Shadows nearby?”

There was a long pause. “Maybe? I sense some weird ass structures on the outskirts of the castle, but I can’t read anything inside them.”

“Weird structures? Can you elaborate?”

“Uhhh...” Iruma answered his question with a drawn out uncertainty. “Fuck, I dunno how to explain them. They’re like spots of black in my mind.”

He hummed. “Yeah, that’s weird. Let us know if anything changes. We’re almost to you.”

 

About a minute later, they reached Iruma, and though she pretended to be her normal haughty self, he could tell she’d probably cried recently.

“Fucking finally, you slow-ass turds.” She gave them a nasty look, even though her hands were trembling and she was clearly relieved they finally showed up.

“Sorry,” he responded, feeling bad for her. He then turned to the others. “So, what should we do? Just wait it out?” There wasn’t really anything they needed to be doing...

Momota scratched at his chin in thought. “Well, we could go check out that thing Iruma sensed. I’m pretty curious, and it’ll put our minds at ease.” He had a point.

“I don’t have any objections, as long as Miu’s alright with it.” Akamatsu glanced to her sister, who huffed but didn’t object.

 

Now that they weren’t panicking about reaching Iruma, Shuichi more carefully observed the world altered by the Dark Hour’s tinted glow. Perhaps since it was evening instead of midnight, the sky outside was a vibrant purple, the setting sun glowing a cold blue. It was eerie, and that was saying something, considering what the Dark Hour was like back in Japan.

Or maybe it was because they were used to how the Dark Hour was supposed to be that they found it strange. Shuichi frowned, the idea that they were used to something so unnatural still making him feel off.

 

“Alright,” Momota said, stopping them as they were almost to the door, “Let’s be on guard; we don’t know what it is.” He materialized his sword, deep red contrasting the cool-colored surroundings. Shuichi swallowed, nodding in agreement as he clenched his own hand around his gun and threw open the door.

A humanoid figure stood in the courtyard, staring down into the unpowered fountain. They wore what looked like a winter school uniform despite the summer heat, a newsboy cap atop their head. Shuichi felt uncomfortable and unsure as the four of them approached the figure.

 

Their footsteps must have alerted them, as when they were a few meters away, they slowly turned around. “Oh? Who’s there?” A distinctly boy-ish voice said in Japanese, “How are you-” He paused, likely noticing their weapons from the way he jerked back. “W-Wait, don’t-” He didn’t get to finish his plea, as his stumble backwards made him hit the fountain. He tumbled over and into it with a loud splash, getting soaked in the still-red water.

“Oh, shit,” Momota cursed, his sword disappearing as he hurried forward to help him up. Shuichi followed suit, grabbing the boy’s other arm. He hauled upwards and- Oh wow, he was heavier than Shuichi was expecting!

 

“Th-Thanks,” he said once they’d gotten him out, “I thought I was going to drown..!”

“In a shallow-ass fountain?” Iruma questioned, hands on her hips, “Anyway, what the fuck’s your deal?”

“Miu, don’t be rude!” Akamatsu scolded, lightly swatting her. “Sorry, I’m Akamatsu Kaede, and you are?”

The boy hesitated, pausing in his attempt to wring his clothes dry. “That’s Japanese order, correct? Then Iidabashi Kiibo would be my name. But just Kiibo is fine, please.”

Momota raised a brow. “You’re speaking Japanese and have to ask that?”

“He probably lives here, Momota-kun,” Shuichi answered.

 

He then turned to the boy. “So, um, Kiibo-kun? Do you know what’s going on?” It was probably best to play ignorant for a moment.

Kiibo perked up, adjusting his cap on his head to cover his eyes- wait, those eyes- “Of course! Don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe until this is all over.” His voice was filled with confidence, boasting as if he hadn’t just seen their weapons and gotten scared.

“Seriously, am I gonna get a fucking answer or what?” Iruma huffed, pointing at Kiibo, “You! What are you?”

 

He flinched back as if struck. “What do you mean? I’m not certain why you’re accusing me of something.”

“If you’re not up to anything weird, stop keeping your mind shut and let me the fuck in!” Iruma, per usual, made little to no sense. If they didn’t understand her powers, it was certain they’d be lost too.

“My mind’s shut..? I’m not sure what you mean by that... Did I say something offensive?” With the water dripping off his pale face, he looked like he was sweating- wait, his face- “Are you telling me I need to not be close-minded? Because I’ll have you know, I’m open to people from all walks of life!”

“I don’t care if you’re down to fuck, I just wanna-”

 

“Sorry, but would you remove your hat?” Shuichi interrupted. All eyes immediately turned to him.

“Er, excuse me?” Kiibo pulled his cap down farther. “Why?”

“Yeah, you got some sorta hat fetish?”

He flushed at Iruma’s assumption. “That’s, that’s not it at all. I just... though I saw something on your face? Er, maybe you hit it on something when you fell?”

Kiibo paused, turning away for a moment while he touched his face. “Nothing’s broken...” He mumbled, pulling his hand away and looking at it, “Oh, the foundation washed off...”

“You wearin’ makeup?” Momota asked, looking unsure. “That’s- uh, well, whatever floats your boat, I guess..?”

 

After a long moment, he sighed. “Well, I suppose there’s little point to this, then.” He pulled off his cap, revealing damp white hair that required brushing out of the way from its length. But that wasn’t important. It was when he turned back around that shocked Shuichi, sending him tumbling down into the Uncanny Valley.

“You’re a robot!” Iruma shouted, marching over to him to grab his mechanical face. His blue eyes were clearly not real, and there were black lines running down his face - ah, that had to be what the foundation was covering.

“Please don’t touch me; my face is worth more money than you can imagine!” He shouted in response, causing her to reluctantly back off.

 

“Well, I guess that explains it, then,” Shuichi thought aloud, “A robot wouldn’t transmogrify, right?” He paused, bringing a hand to his face. “Oh... Wait... But electronics don’t function during the Dark Hour..?”

Kiibo looked to him, his oddly expressive face surprised. “Oh, you know about the Dark Hour?”

“Um, yes? Does that mean you know about it too?”

Kiibo nodded, raising a finger pointedly. “Of course! I was created to specifically to function during it, after all!”

The four of them blinked in surprise, until Momota finally asked, “Why?”

 

He hesitated in answering. “Er, well... To be quite honest, it’s a long story. And it would probably be best to let my creator, Professor Iidabashi, explain.” He brightened up. “I can take you to meet him, if you’d like.”

“That sounds great,” Akamatsu answered, clapping her hands together, “We’d really appreciate that, Kiibo-kun.”

He puffed up in pride. “But of course! Let’s get going then!”

Shuichi hesitated. “Wait, um, but it’s still the Dark Hour?”

Kiibo was quick to address his concerns. “Please, do not worry! Iidabashi is able to enter the Dark Hour as well! He should be in his lab, so just follow me!”

 

Iruma frowned as the followed after him, quietly mumbling, “Where the hell is he then?” It was clear that she didn’t sense him, and Shuichi was finding the whole situation rather suspicious. What were the chances of encountering someone able to enter the Dark Hour while they were on vacation in a random, barely-on-the-map country? They didn’t seem very high, that was for sure.

Her reaction didn’t get much better once they stopped outside a room. Kiibo didn’t seem to notice, as he announced, “Here is his lab. Please, do not touch anything; everything is very expensive and is very important!”

“This shady-ass place? This is one of those dark spots, are you sure it’s alright?”

He looked confused. “Er, yes? I’m sorry, I don’t know what you mean by that, but this  _ is _ his lab, I’m certain.”

 

He pushed open the door, peeking inside. “Professor, I have some guests? May I bring them in?”

“Guests?” An unfamiliar older voice questioned. “Bring them in.” At his agreement, the five of them piled into the room.

Shuichi took a long moment standing agasp among a place more disastrous than Iruma’s room had quickly become. Half finished machines lined almost every surface, and what wasn’t taken up by those were covered in scattered papers and food remnants. In the center of the chaos, a large, complete-looking machine sat. Next to it was who could only be Professor Iidabashi, a middle-aged looking man with glasses and wisps of gray in his scruffy brown hair.

 

Iruma’s eyes immediately lit up. “Ooooh, this is an inventor’s paradise!” She hungrily hovered over the unfinished machines, hands hovering with a desire to touch.

“Miu, please don’t touch anything!” Akamatsu cried out in alarm, reaching out with one hand to grab her wrist and gently pull her along.

“Sorry to intrude,” Shuichi apologized to the professor, wishing for his hat, “We ran into Kiibo-kun, and, well, it’s not often we run into others in the Dark Hour.”

He looked over them, one-by-one, until he sighed. “You’re all pretty young. High schoolers?” When Shuichi nodded, he continued. “You shouldn’t run around so much; you have your whole lives ahead of you. The Dark Hour is dangerous.” His face twitched, and he turned away. “Though, I wonder who taught you that name.”

 

“So, the fuck do all of these things do, anyway?” Iruma cut in before Shuichi could pursue any line of questioning. “And you built Kiibo?”

“He did!” Kiibo answered proudly. “I’m the culmination of nearly 10 years worth of work! ... Although I suppose I really only started existing as myself in the past 2.”

“K1-B0, or Kiibo, as he prefers to be called, is my creation, yes.” Iidabashi strolled over to a shelf and grabbed a binder off it. “I had many reasons for creating him, but his purpose now is to protect others from Shadows.” He walked over to them. “Shadows are-”

“We know what Shadows are,” Momota interrupted, “Been fighting them for about four months now.” Shuichi nodded in agreement.

 

Iidabashi pursed his lips. “I see. Who do you work for?”

There was a hesitant pause following his question. “I’m sorry?” Shuichi finally answered. “I’m not sure what you mean; we just, um, sort of do it because...” He couldn’t vocalize his reason for fighting. Did one exist, aside from self defense and curiosity? “We don’t have a specific leader..? I mean, I suppose I’m the leader, but...” He averted his eyes.

Iidabashi shook his head. “I apologize. I must be getting paranoid in my old age.”

He felt his curiosity spark. “... Paranoid? Are you hiding from someone?”

“So, tell me about yourselves.” He avoided answering, pacing to the other side of the room and beginning to leaf through some papers.

 

As Shuichi hesitated again, the other three quickly introduced themselves. Momota was quick to get chatty, continuing his own introduction with, “We’re from Japan; we’re here with my sidekick Shuichi to solve some, uh, some missing animal case.” He gave Shuichi a heavy pat on the back, causing him to cough.

“Oh?  _ You’re _ the detective they’ve brought in this time?” Iidabashi asked, not looking up. “I was expecting you in half an hour or so, but this works as well.”

Shuichi blinked. “Oh, um, yes. So you’re Novoselic’s head researcher?” He had the brief thought that his Japanese was very good, though his name was Japanese so that made sense.

He nodded. “Most of my research involves artificial intelligence and robotics, but I’ve dabbled in other sciences. This room is proof of it.” He gestured to the large machine.

 

“What’s it do?” Iruma asked eagerly.

“This is a sort of cloaking device. I use it to make sure no Shadows find me, though I’ve yet to see more than a handful in my time living here. Still, when I can’t fight, it’s better safe than sorry.”

Iruma looked positively elated, scurrying over to the machine. “Ooh, that must be what’s interfering with my powers! I couldn’t sense anything in here at all!”

Iidabashi’s mouth twitched upwards. Shuichi wondered if he was proud. “Then that’s working as intended, I suppose. You have supportive abilities, then?”

She nodded eagerly. “I’ll tell you anything you want if I can dig through here with my tools!”

“I have blueprints-?”

“Deal!”

 

“W-Wait, Iruma-san!” Shuichi cried, “Don’t just- Don’t just do things without consulting us!” She shrunk at his scolding, causing him and Akamatsu to sigh.

“I don’t see what the problem is?” Momota scratched the back of his head. “I mean, an exchange of info’s only fair, and this guy seems to know a lot.”

That was true, but- Shuichi just- He just had a weird feeling about all this. “What are you even researching, Iidabashi-san?”

He quirked a brow. “Currently? I’m looking for any possible links between the Makango disappearances and the Dark Hour. In the past, however, I’ve worked with building security implements against Shadows. I also hold great interest in the potential, though I can’t say I’m actively researching it.”

 

Shuichi paused, taking his response in slowly. “Er, the potential?”

Iidabashi frowned. “Surely you must know what I’m talking about. The potential to fight Shadows?”

“Oh. That.” Shuichi nodded. “We, um, didn’t know it had a specific name.”

“You’re talking about this?” Momota questioned, willing his sword into existence, causing the professor to tense.

“Don’t do that without warning!” He shook his head as Momota mumbled an apology. “Kids these days...”

“So-” Shuichi continued. “Can you tell us more about it? This potential of ours?”

 

Iidabashi looked between the four of them. “Well. How much do you already know?”


	34. The Potential

“How much do we know?” Shuichi echoed. “Um, well, not much...” The grounds of most of their current understanding of the situation with the Dark Hour was purely based on conjecture, after all.

“Yeah, ‘s not like we have anyone but ourselves to guide us.” Momota shrugged. “We see Shadows, we fight ‘em. I don’t think any of us have really thought about  _ why _ we have this, uh, this potential, you know?”

Akamatsu shook her head. “I mean, I’ve thought about it, and I’m sure Saihara-kun has as well, but... It was more or less a useless endeavor.” She looked to Iidabashi. “I’d say all we really know is that our weapons are formed and fueled by our psyche.”

 

“The psyche...” Iidabashi nodded. “Yes, that’s a good way of putting it. The mind is indeed the source of the potential, so that’ll trim down some of the explanation I was preparing.” He paused for a moment, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he turned back to his shelf and grabbed a file. “Alright, let’s start with this.”

He pulled out what appeared to be a research paper, before turning to the computer in the corner of the room, walking over and waking it. While Iruma got excited that he had a working computer in the Dark Hour, he clicked around until he pulled up a color wheel on his browser.

“If one of you would call forth your weapon-” Before he could finish, Momota eagerly stepped in, sword back in hand. “... Thank you, Momota-kun was it?” He pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment, before finally beginning.

 

“Those with the potential fall under three subcategories: offensive, defensive, and supportive. Typically, which one you are is obvious when you awaken to your power, as that is when it’s most pure.”

“Most pure?” Shuichi questioned.

“Sometimes, misconceptions about one’s own self can lead to false awakenings. I’ve seen at least one case of a user with supportive powers attempting to play offensive or defensive.” He shook his head. “The potential is a very instinctual thing, however, so false awakenings are usually the result of  **forced** awakenings.”

He coughed. “F-Forced? What, what do you mean by that?”

 

When Iidabashi became tight-lipped, Kiibo helpfully stepped in. “It must be something like me! Father- er, the professor designed me to have defensive powers, but after a while I accidentally awoke to offensive capabilities.”

“Something like that,” said professor agreed, expression still tight as he turned away. “Moving on, however-”

 

“Oh, wait, can I ask something?” Akamatsu cut in, and at his approval continued with, “When I awoke - and my sister Miu now as well - we didn’t have, um...” She gestured to Momota’s sword. “Didn’t have physical, well, not weapons, but...”

“Supportive, I assume?” Iidabashi asked, and she nodded in response. “I see, that’s normal then. Don’t be surprised if you never develop physical representations-”

“Oh, I mean, I did, so I’m not worried for myself.” At the soft, questioning “oh?” she got in response, she summoned her piano keys. It was subtle, but Shuichi noticed Iidabashi’s eyes widen in surprise for a brief second.

“That’s... honestly very impressive. I’d be interested in discussing your powers at some point, if you have the time.”

“Oh, of course!” Akamatsu brightened up, though Iruma looked suspicious behind her.

 

“Now then.” Iidabashi again attempted to get the conversation back on track, looking to Shuichi. “Saihara-kun, right? If you have a weapon or something of the sort as well...”

“Ah, alright.” He summoned his handgun, keeping the muzzle pointed towards the ground as he turned it over in his hands. He’d never held it like this; the only time he held his gun was when he was preparing to or actually fighting.

Iidabashi hummed. “Can you open the magazine?”

He blinked; he’d never thought of doing that. “Um... maybe..?” He was unsure what the point would be, though; he wasn’t sure there were bullets in there.

 

And true enough, when he opened it, there was nothing. The professor huffed quietly, causing Shuichi’s chest to tighten painfully from having done something wrong. “Close it again. And this time, remember that there  _ are _ bullets in there.”

“There- There are?” He questioned, but closed it as he was told.

“There are,” he confirmed, “You’re a boy of facts, I’m sure, leading your cognition to say they shouldn’t be there, but they  _ will _ be if you believe they  _ should _ be.”

It didn’t make much sense, but then again, little did anymore. He took a deep breath. “Okay, um, I’ll try...” Repeating to himself that there were bullets in his gun, he tried his best to believe that there would be bullets in there when he opened it back up. If a professor was saying it, it had to be true, right?

 

As he slowly, nervously pulled the chamber back open, he was relieved when the magazine was lined with lime-green bullets. He quietly laughed, glad that he hadn’t failed again.

“So, what now?” Momota asked, shoving his free hand into his pocket.

“Patience.” Iidabashi gestured them closer to the computer. “With this, I should be able to tell approximately how strong you are.”

“Wha- You can do that?!” In agreement with Momota’s outburst, Shuichi looked around for some special equipment that would help perform such a feat.

“ _ Approximately. _ I didn’t say I’d know absolutely. Now, let’s see... Saihara-kun, do you recall what color your bullets were when you first awakened?”

 

Shuichi blinked in surprise. “Oh, um... orange, I believe? Maybe an orange-red?” It was so long ago that he hardly remembered. Regardless- “I do know the color is linked to our strength, but in what way?”

Iidabashi nodded approvingly. “Orange was what I assumed. If you see here-” He pointed to the color wheel he’d pulled up. “Orange is the complementary color to blue, the color of your gun. From your current progress-” His fingers traced along the circle towards green. “Your power will easily triple before your bullets have reached their final color, I’m sure.”

“If this was an RPG, your level would be approaching 30, I bet!” Kiibo translated. “Oh, but please don’t think I play RPGs; it’s just something I picked up from one of Princess Sonia’s friends.”

“Good analogy, Kiibo.” Iidabashi nodded. “But this isn’t a game. Please remember to take this seriously.” Kiibo slumped at his scolding words.

 

Iidabashi continued on unperturbed. “This is good, though; your starting color should be around the opposite of your weapon’s base color. In your case, it would be the color of your gun. This base color is called the ideal - the color your bullets should be by the time you’re at your strongest.”

As Shuichi nodded in understanding, Akamatsu and Momota got excited next to him. “Oh, what about me, then?” The latter asked enthusiastically.

“Hey, dipshit, let Kaede go next!” Miu interrupted, ignoring how her sister shushed her.

“That’s fine, please don’t argue,” Iidabashi sighed, “I’d need more time to even know where to begin with Akamatsu-san’s anyway, and the Dark Hour is nearly over.”

 

So, Momota eagerly raised his sword for Iidabashi to examine. “It was also orange when we started, I’m pretty sure.”

The professor looked to the hilt - purple, Shuichi noted - then frowned. “Tell me about your fights. Do you take down enemies faster than Saihara-kun or any of your other allies?”

“Uhh...” He scratched at his goatee. “Don’t think so? Maybe slightly faster, but it’s usually the same all around.” He was right; Harukawa aside, the three of them that were fighters were more or less evenly matched.

“I see.” His lips went flat as he turned back to the color wheel he had displayed.

Momota audibly swallowed. “Is, uh, is there somethin’ wrong with that?”

“Your starting color shouldn’t have been so close to your hilt’s color; it should’ve went in the opposite direction, towards the yellows and greens, not towards red.”

 

Shuichi hesitated, words echoing in his ears. “Is... Is it the wrong color, then?”

“Possibly. Irregularities do happen, but only time will tell. It’ll either head off towards a different color, or it’ll head into the purples and he’ll grow stagnant.”

“Grow stagnant..?” Momota repeated, eyebrows knitted together. “What the hell’s that mean? Like, I’m gonna stop getting stronger?”

“Again, possibly. I’m unfortunately not an expert in this, and all of my documents on the potential in general are secondhand and likely outdated.”

“Secondhand? So there’s others researching our powers?” Shuichi questioned, causing Iidabashi to run a hand through his hair.

“Yes, yes, but I’m not in contact with any of them so please don’t ask any more.”

 

As if timed to his words, the Dark Hour ended. The six of them stood in awkward silence before Kiibo spoke. “Well then, if you’re done with them, Professor, I can lead them out...”

He sighed. “Yes, alright, but just one last thing; please return here shortly before the Dark Hour tomorrow evening. As the only resident here that can enter the Dark Hour, I’ll be in change of any investigation the four of you do. Of course, Kiibo here will be assisting as well.” He nodded in Kiibo’s direction. “He’ll come along with you to make sure nothing happens.”

He straightened up as he was addressed. “Of course! I’ll be more than happy to help in any way I can!”

 

With that, he led the four of them out of the lab, leaving a pensive-looking Iidabashi behind. Once they were a good distance away from the lab, Iruma spoke up. “He’s suspicious as fuck.”

“What?!” Kiibo immediately stopped, looking to her in alarm. “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” she huffed, “He shut down almost all of our attempts to get information while poking and prodding us for our own. Plus his mind was so fucking closed off that I couldn’t even get a hint as to what he was thinking.” She loudly sighed, putting her hands on her hips. “Wonder if it’s a thing that people without the potential just do. I have a hard time reading that weird fucker Shinguuji too.”

 

“That is true - about him being suspicious, I mean...” Shuichi mumbled into his fingers. “I want to know more about these other people researching the potential. From some of his reactions, however, it’s quite likely that he’s in hiding, making reaching out to others dangerous.”

“Geez.” Momota scratched the back of his head. “Let’s just forget about him for now.” Shuichi glanced to him; he’d been oddly silent since Iidabashi analysed his powers. He wondered if it was bothering him. “So you live here, right Kiibo? I bet you know some cool places - hey, don’t castles have secret passageways? You should show us some!”

Their robot companion accepted the change in topic without question. “Ah, yes, there are, but I can’t show you. That would be a serious breach in security, after all.”

 

He paused, finger tapping his face in thought for a long moment. “I don’t want to be rude, but the four of you look quite drained. Perhaps I could give you a guided tour of the countryside and show you some of the locations Makangos have gone missing from in the morning?”

“That sounds good,” Akamatsu agreed with a nod, “I’m dead on my feet, guys, let’s rest.”

Shuichi tried to stop his face from twitching into a frown. “Ah, well, alright... I suppose that’s for the best.” He tried to not let his brooding thoughts show too much as they quietly made their way back to their rooms, the information revealed still settling in their minds.


	35. Makango

**July 26, 201X - 11:45am CEST**

Momota snored. Shuichi had been faintly aware of that fact from the plane ride over, but it honestly wasn’t until he was in a quiet room alone with him - with no other background noise - that he realized how loud he really was. But it was too late to regret agreeing to room with him; asking for a separate room at this point would be embarrassing, not to mention it would probably hurt Momota’s feelings. So, he sucked it up and accepted the little sleep he was able to get.

 

It didn’t look like he was the only one that had trouble overnight, however. Akamatsu was rubbing sleep out of her eyes as well, soft bags indicative of poor rest marring her face.

“Iruma-san keep you up?” Shuichi quietly asked as they were making their way to meet up with Kiibo by the fountain, making sure the girl in question didn’t hear his whispered inquiry.

“Huh?” She blinked, taking a long second to process the question. “Oh, no, it’s just- Tenko-san woke me up a bit before five with a bunch of texts gushing about a cute girl she saw.” She shook her head. “She didn’t realize that while it was almost noon there, it was still early morning here. Time zones are awful.”

Shuichi gave her a sympathetic smile. “I agree with you there. Especially with what happened with the Dark Hour yesterday.”

 

Akamatsu nodded. “That was really crazy. Did you see how different it was? And I’m still a bit worried about what Iidabashi-san said...” Her eyes pointedly flickered over to Momota, who was loudly bickering with Iruma about something unrelated.

Shuichi bit his lip. Yet another worry to keep him up at night, even if it weren’t for the snoring. It had been so easy to pretend Ouma was just making stuff up to coerce him into agreeing with his proposition. But, well, now with a professor saying something too similar, it was near impossible to deny. Still, denial was all he had to fight with, so- “I’m worried too, but I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“I hope so,” she sighed, appearing to believe that as much as Shuichi himself did, which was not much at all.

 

Once they met up with Kiibo, he led the five of them towards a station; it seemed that even in Europe, trains were an important form of transportation, especially to get to the countryside.

“So, if it’s alright to ask...” Kiibo began once they were settled on a train headed out towards the city outskirts, “How was it the first time you awoke?”

Shuichi barely paused to consider the question as he answered, “Terrifying. Exhausting.”

Akamatsu winced. “I have to agree there. It’s not exactly pleasant when Shadows are involved, after all.”

“Yeah, they’re right, I guess.” Momota shrugged. “It  _ was _ pretty exhausting, though, uh, well, I didn’t think it was that scary. That’s just me, though.”

 

“I see.” Kiibo placed a hand to his chin - Shuichi thought it was almost weird to see those facial markings covered up again now that he knew they were there. “Was it bad for you as well, Iruma-san?”

“Eh, depends on when I really awakened. Ending up in Tartarus was pretty shitty, but it wasn’t so bad going to the love hotel.” She grinned.

“Oh, good point,” Momota suddenly agreed. He then turned to Akamatsu. “Hey, I don’t think you ever mentioned when you first awakened. I know it was quite a while back, but...”

She frowned, averting her eyes. “I... I don’t really like to talk about it. It’s... blurry. And what isn’t blurry is just bad.”

 

Iruma frowned as well at her response. From the furrow of her brows, Shuichi wondered if she was equally in the dark about it. Still, she said nothing, and the rest of them certainly weren’t going to push her when she didn’t want to talk about it.

Shuichi decided to redirect the conversation. “So, Kiibo-kun, how about you?”

“Ah, well, the professor helped me.” He raised a finger pointedly, then paused, hand shrinking back to his chest nervously. “So I unfortunately cannot relate to your experiences, as I have never fought a Shadow...”

Momota’s jaw fell. “Never? Not even once?”

Kiibo grimaced. “The Shadows that live here are timid and don’t move around very much. Father- sorry, um, the professor doesn’t want me to go fight them.”

 

“You keep doing that,” Shuichi interrupted, “Calling Iidabashi-san ‘Professor’ instead of ‘Father’.”

He was silent for a long moment. “I... I consider him as my father, but he prefers not to be called that.”

“Why?”

Again, he hesitated. “It’s hard to explain, and quite personal to the professor, so, um... I apologize.”

“Oh, sorry.” Shuichi retreated, despite his growing curiosity. “Nevermind then...”

 

The topics were much lighter as they approached their stop, Iruma hounding Kiibo for details about his makeup - his composition, not his concealer. Shuichi had to admit he was interested as well, though he certainly wouldn’t be able to follow along if they got too technical. Thankfully, he seemed hesitant to get into it, perhaps because he was trying to pass as human while they were out and about.

Not that there were many other people on the train. It was only the five of them in the carriage they were in.

 

Once they reached the station and disembarked, Kiibo led them down a well-maintained stone path towards and past a collection of scattered houses. Each one, he noted, had a shed attached to the side, not quite large enough to be a garage.

“Houses in Novoselic are built with the anticipation of one day owning a Makango,” Kiibo explained when he asked after the sheds, “Sometimes people request not to have one built, but that’s very rare, since not having one drops the value of the house.”

Again, Shuichi got the impression that Shinguuji would’ve enjoyed coming along. At least he’d have much to talk about with him when they returned home.

 

“I see. So, what’s the plan, Kiibo-kun?” He switched topics, prepared to begin the investigation proper.

Kiibo nodded. “I can introduce you to some of the owners that have had their Makangos go missing; perhaps their testimony will be useful in some way?”

Shuichi doubted that; if it was, he was sure the investigation would’ve moved along far before he got involved. Still- “It’s worth a shot. If their disappearance isn’t linked to the Dark Hour, then their testimonies could be useful.”

 

“Could be” turned out to be a bit of an exaggeration. It seemed like no matter who they spoke to, no one had seen anything. With his new knowledge of the Dark Hour occurring at 5pm instead of midnight, however, the timeframe of “between lunch and dinner” suddenly made a bit more sense and added to the theory that the Dark Hour was indeed involved.

 

After a little over an hour had passed, the four of them that weren’t machine were tired from all the walking around.

“Geez,” Momota sighed as Shuichi voiced his opinion, scratching the back of his head, “This feels kinda pointless if that’s your deduction.”

He chewed at his lip. “W-Well, um, I could be wrong, so-”

“Then we’ll find that out tonight!” He pressed before Shuichi could let his self doubt derail his logic. “Don’t worry; as my sidekick, your mistakes are mine, remember? We’ll solve this case, one day at a time!” He puffed up, giving him a heavy pat on the back.

“R-Right, um, thanks.”

 

Kiibo brought a hand to his chin. “Are we done investigating then? If so, I can take you sightseeing.”

As Shuichi nodded, Iruma laughed, “Why go sightseeing when the sight’s right here?” With that, she grabbed her, um, very generously sized chest and, er, pushed them together. Shuichi and Kiibo flushed and averted their eyes. She laughed more at their awkward embarrassment.

Momota looked around, somehow not realizing what she was referring to. “Well, uh, you can stay here if you want, but I’m goin’ with Shuichi and Kiibo.”

Akamatsu sighed. “Miu, please.” She shook her head. “We’re coming, Momota-kun; don’t worry about it.”

 

He guided them back to the station and to a different part of the outskirts, though this part was closer to the castle than the countryside they were previously in. He then led the way towards a large barn, surrounded by high wooden fences.

“So, I’m guessing it’s safe to assume that more Makangos live here?” Shuichi asked.

Kiibo beamed. “That’s right! This is where couples come to get their eggs, actually. It’s an important benchmark in one’s relationship! Oh, but please allow me a moment to speak with the head breeder before we enter.” Without waiting for confirmation, Kiibo entered the barn.

 

A few minutes passed, before finally, a loud shout cut through the air, indistinct from the distance they were at. However, from the blur of movement from the now open barn door, inferences could likely be made as to what it was as a large mass entered the fenced enclosure, slowly dispersing to reveal it to be a herd of Makangos.

 

Kiibo returned shortly after, face aglow with pride as he carried a sack in his arms. “He gave us permission to spend some time with them! Come, let us enter!” He eagerly corralled them towards a gate to enter the enclosure, despite Shuichi’s uncertain stammers.

He looked around for this head breeder Kiibo had apparently spoken to. “Is, is it fine for us to approach them? Um, well, unsupervised, I mean?”

“Of course! They’re very tame; I’m sure you’re not capable of doing anything that would provoke them.” One vote of confidence from a robot that had known them for less than 24 hours. That was very reassuring.

 

Hesitantly, the four of them followed after Kiibo as he approached one of the Makangos. True to his word, it bowed its neck to let him pat its head - though, a few seconds later its true objective of the sack in his arms was made clear as it gently nipped at it. Food, Shuichi assumed. Sure enough, that was it, as Kiibo pulled the back away before taking out a large vegetable stalk for it to chew on.

“See?” He said, turning back to them, “Completely harmless!” He doubted  _ that, _ but it was true that they  _ seemed _ docile.

 

They spent some time petting and feeding the strange creatures, Shuichi only pausing his own involvement when his phone buzzed insistently in his pocket.

[1:42pm] Ouma: saihara-chan ;-;

[1:42pm] Ouma: where r u??

[1:42pm] Ouma: im so wonewyyyy

[1:43pm] Ouma: was my beloved saihara-chan kidnapped?! TTATT

Shuichi sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He should’ve expected this would happen at some point during his vacation.

[1:44pm] Shuichi: I thought you knew everything.

[1:45pm] Ouma: im being sassed!

 

There wasn’t another response for a few minutes, almost allowing Shuichi to return to his previous activity.

[1:49pm] Ouma: ok but srsly

[1:49pm] Ouma: were r u ur dorms so empty ;~;

[1:50pm] Ouma: :OOOOO

[1:50pm] Ouma: did u go somewhere without me?????

He almost didn’t want to justify that with a response, especially since he was being distracted by Momota’s sudden surprised shout as one of the Makangos nuzzled his chest roughly. He laughed at the cute sight, and since his phone was in his hands, he quickly switched apps and took a picture of it.

 

Said picture turned into his wordless response to Ouma’s question, and silenced him for a good period of time.

[2:13pm] Ouma: what the hell is that

 

* * *

**4:52pm CEST**

“Please, put these on and don’t lose them,” Iidabashi said, handing each of them a rather bulky headset. The only one not to receive one was Kiibo, though since he didn’t ask why Shuichi supposed that was intentional.

Iruma was quick to understand what they were. “For communication, yeah? I’m guessing these work during the Dark Hour, else this’d be really fucking pointless.”

He nodded. “That’s right. I have to be able to communicate with you without leaving this room. This is the easiest method.”

 

With that, they waited out the few remaining minutes to the Dark Hour, Iidabashi making some light talk with Akamatsu about her supportive abilities. Iruma was still giving him the side eye, while Momota looked uncomfortable as he shifted, adjusting his stance frequently. Shuichi looked around idly, not sure how to feel about the professor.

 

Finally, it settled, though not without Iruma raising a ruckus immediately after. “Oh, holy shit! Fuck!”

The rest of them looked at her in alarm. “What, what is it?” Shuichi dared to ask.

She was silent for a moment, calming down significantly as she closed her eyes. “Damn, you know, I just realized- Yeah, I think I know what those black spots are!”

Momota huffed, fed up with the suspense. “Seriously, what?!”

 

“They’re those stupid Makango sheds!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School starts up again next week, so taking a week off to adjust to that. See y'all on the 6th!


	36. The Demon

**July 26, 201X - Dark Hour**

Following Iruma’s outburst, Iidabashi didn’t react other than nodding along. “Ah, yes, I installed some anti-Shadow locks on the sheds after the first few went missing. Just in case. They act like smaller versions of this big one I have here.” He gestured to the machine in the middle of the room.

Iruma tisked loudly. “Well that did a whole lot of jack shit- I could point out at  _ least _ a handful of them that have gone missing more recently, thanks to all that questioning Shithara did earlier.”

He pursed his lips. “I am aware of that. Unfortunately, it only helps if the Makangos stay in their enclosure during the Dark Hour.” He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “And they are not good at doing that, it would seem.”

 

Shuichi thought for a long moment. “So, if they got out, and then were attacked by some Shadows...”

Iidabashi shook his head. “That’s the thing that’s been stumping me. People attacked by Shadows still remain in reality - in fact, they don’t move at all from where they were attacked.”

“Ah, Apathy Syndrome, right?” He asked, recalling what the news had been saying. “Where, where people collapse and lose the will to care for themselves..?”

“Is that what they’re calling it? Regardless, the dilemma remains. Of course, this assumes that Makangos are sentient enough to become Shadows in the first place...” He pulled his glasses off his face, wiping them clean with the hem of his shirt. Tiredness was etched into the creases of his face.

 

Momota scratched at his goatee. “I’ve been wondering for a while, but... What exactly are Shadows?”

Iidabashi frowned as he replaced his glasses. “Shadows are... well, from my admittedly basic understanding, they are parts of the human psyche as well. Largely negative parts, but still part of us nonetheless.” He shook his head again. “Let me see if I can find some documents on the subject while you’re out.” He made a shooing motion with his hand as he turned to one of his shelves.

“Very well, we’ll be off then!” Kiibo readily agreed, turning and marching towards the exit. “Come now, we have a long walk ahead of us; the trains are out, after all.”

 

A loud groan sounded between the four of them, the realization of the distance awaiting them suddenly dawning on them. Iruma was the first to vocalize her displeasure with, “Fuck it, I’m staying here!”

“Miu!” Akamatsu shouted, “You can’t just-”

“And why the fuck not?! It’s not like you’re gonna be out of range for me to reach, plus we’ve got these.” She tapped the headset around her neck. “And fuck, I don’t wanna get my beautiful body in the way if you have to end up fighting!”

She quietly huffed. “Fine, just don’t get in Iidabashi-san’s way.”

“Tsk, if anything he better stay outta  _ my _ way” entered Shuichi’s mind, a potentially unintentional projection of Iruma’s thoughts. Since neither of the other two commented on it, he decided not to as well, instead silently following Kiibo out of the lab and off the castle grounds.

 

“Man, that color is something else,” Momota commented, looking up at the purple tinted sky. It looked like something straight out of the internet, gorgeous shades only patient photographers could capture. “You know, if it was like this back in Iwatodai, I won’t mind the Dark Hour at all.”

“Yeah, definitely a lot better than green,” Akamatsu agreed.

Kiibo glanced at them, looking perplexed. “The sky is green in Japan’s Dark Hour?” They nodded, and he thoughtfully hummed. “How strange. I’d like to see that someday.”

“Maybe you could come visit us, then.” She smiled. “We could take you on a tour in return for the one you gave us.”

“Great idea.” Momota nodded approvingly, a grin on his face. “We’ll show you all the sights Iwatodai and Port Island have to offer, and  _ then _ we can show you Tartarus.”

 

Kiibo frowned. “Iruma-san mentioned that before - Tartarus, that is. What is that, exactly?”

Momota folded his arms behind his head. “It’s like... this huge tower that houses tons of Shadows. We’ve been climbing it since April, training to get stronger.”

“I see...” Kiibo was silent for a long moment. “I think I would like to go there as well. It would be beneficial if I were to gain some experience in fighting Shadows. Also-” He cut off suddenly, grinding to a halt.

“Kiibo-kun?” Shuichi stopped as well.

There was a whirring noise coming from him, like internal fans spinning quickly as his faceplate glowed red. “S-Sorry, Iruma-san just- said something-” He shook his head a touch too quickly. “Please, let’s continue!” He hurried forward, though because his pace wasn’t much more than a power walk, the three of them didn’t have to alter their pace drastically to keep up with him.

 

Shuichi was curious as to what she said, but knowing Iruma, it was probably something he was better off not knowing. He shook his head, then uneasily adjusted the heavy, unfamiliar headset he wore. It wasn’t comforting in the way that his hat had been, making him want to take it off.

“You can take it alllll off if you want,” Iruma commented in his head, clearly referring to the headset despite her teasing words.

“I’m good,” he silently answered back, “Iidabashi-san said to keep it on.”

She tsked. “Yeah, well, he’s not even paying attention. I’m the one manning this shit.” To prove her point, she sighed loudly over the radio, causing Momota and Akamatsu to flinch from the sudden noise.

“Well, do you see anything, Iruma-san?” Shuichi asked, aloud this time.

“Nah, nothing yet. You’ll know when that changes.”

That wasn’t ominous or anything. Shuichi tried to ignore the implication that she might suddenly shout out that an enemy was near, giving them little time to actually prepare for battle.

 

“You’d think that with all the stair climbing we do, walking on a road wouldn’t be so tough,” Akamatsu complained after a few minutes of silence.

“Well, we’re almost there,” Shuichi responded, looking out towards the slowly growing buildings in the horizon. Though he had to admit that his feet hurt as well; there was something about being on vacation that made his feet hurt more, despite the fact that they weren’t walking that much more than they did at home.

There was another stretch of silence before Iruma hummed. “There’s something moving in the middle of the subdivision, but I can’t tell what it is. Watch your asses.”

Kiibo nodded in agreement. “My radar is picking up on it too. I’ll lead the way?” He looked to them for approval, and when they all nodded, he pulled ahead of the group.

 

The first thing they saw upon nearing the center of the subdivision was a herd of Makangos. Shuichi quickly attempted to count them; there appeared to be around 20, so it was highly probable that these were the missing ones. They shifted, corralling around something in the center of their herd. The four of them exchanged glances before drawing closer still.

There was a sense of wrongness in the air. Anxiety built in Shuichi’s chest, churning painfully the longer they were kept in suspense. His heart leapt into his throat as he caught a glimpse of blonde hair through the gaps in the herd. The culprit?

He swallowed, forcing his voice out. “Hello? Is someone there?”

 

The herd froze, unnaturally still. When they resumed moving, their movements were robotic - even more so than Kiibo - parting to reveal the figure Shuichi thought he’d seen. A beautiful women, dressed in a green gown, sat on top of a seated Makango, idly stroking its head as they nervously approached her. Her hair was adorned in flowers and was fanned out in a way that made it seem like it was floating.

“Hello, children,” she greeted, voice inhumanly melodic, “What brings you out this way?”

“That’s the thing I was sensing,” Iruma said, “I’m trying to analyse it, so don’t do anything stupid.”

His hands shook. “Um, well, we’re, we were looking for these Makangos.” He gestured to the herd. His teammates nodded in agreement.

 

“Is that so?” Her expression hardly changed, still a soft smile. “Quite bold of you to venture into a time such as this for some animals.”

“Ah, yes, well...” Shuichi averted his gaze, uncomfortable under her stare.

“It’s just what heroes like us do!” Momota boasted, chest puffed up in pride as he placed a hand on Shuichi’s shoulder.

The boast finally caused her expression to shift, eyes narrowing for a split second. “Heroes? Quite the title you’ve placed upon yourselves.”

Shuichi swallowed. “So, um, why are you here? If I may asked.”

 

She hummed, fingers still dancing along the top of the Makango’s head. “I exist in this realm.”

“You- You do?” Kiibo stuttered out. “Um, pardon me, but... Are you a Shadow?”

Her beautiful face twisted in anger. “Do not compare me to those  _ things. _ I am far superior to those manmade abominations.”

They all flinched at her harsh tone and the way the Makangos riled up with her, feathery bodies poofing up as they became on edge. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply-” Kiibo quickly apologized. “It’s just- My, my software was designed only to detect humans and Shadows, and, well, I apologize but... You’re not a human.”

She pursed her lips. “What rude children I’ve come across today.” There was a fluttering behind her back, and Shuichi’s eyes widened as wings appeared behind her back.

 

“A faerie?!” Akamatsu cried out. The four of them backed away uncertainly.

“I am known as Titania. I came unto this world from the Sea of Souls.” She rose off the Makango, bare feet hovering off the ground.

“The, the Sea of Souls?” Shuichi hesitantly asked, licking his lips nervously.

“I suppose humans like you would know it better as the collective unconsciousness. It is where all minds link together, where all souls will inevitably return to.”

“What a buncha BS,” Iruma muttered, “Keebs is right; she’s giving off some major Shadow vibes.”

 

“So, uh, what does that make you..?” Momota asked. “If you’re something greater than a Shadow, what exactly does that mean?”

“I suppose the best term I’ve heard you humans use for my kind would be ‘Demon’. Not that I am what the term demon usually refers to, but it is close enough.” She folded her hands in front of her, clearly displeased. “We come from the human mind just as Shadows do, but we are not them.”

Shuichi chewed at his lip in thought. “We? Your kind? So, so there’s more of you?”

She paused. “Yes, but that’s hardly important. Why don’t we move on; let’s talk about you. What do you plan to do?”

He blinked. “What do you mean?”

 

She gestured to the herd. “This are what you came for, but they’re mine now. This is quite the problem.”

“This  _ is _ quite the problem.” Kiibo nodded in agreement. “But obviously, these are not yours, so we’ll be taking them back.”

“That’s right!” Momota stepped forward. “You can’t just steal people’s pets!”

She raised a brow. “And who is going to stop me? You? That’s very funny.” The sweet smile she gave them was laced with poison, warning them. Shuichi’s body tensed; unlike with Tartarus’ Shadows, they had no idea what they were up against with her.

 

“Wait, Momota-kun,” he cut in, pulling him back by the wrist, “Don’t do anything rash.” He ignored the protest he got in response, looking to Titania. “Can we talk about this? Surely there must be  _ some _ way we can work this out?”

She placed a hand to her cheek, thinking for a moment. “I don’t believe there is. I want these creatures; they’re amusing. It gets boring, existing alone in this realm.” She shook her head. “This is just the price you humans must pay.”

“Pay?! What the hell’d we do?!” Iruma shouted, not that her question was answered. Akamatsu conveyed her sister’s outburst in a more polite manner, though clearly perplexed herself.

“Such ignorance. Humanity created this realm, humanity brought Shadows and Demons into existence, and now you all want to complain?” She hovered further off the ground, dress fluttering in time with her wings.

 

“I don’t understand,” Shuichi shouted up at her, “Are you saying we created the Dark Hour?!”

“Enough. I tire of playing with you rude humans.” She spread out her arms, and the Makangos fled, panicked noises escaping them as a ring of ice shot up from the ground, trapping said humans (plus robot) inside.

“Good fucking job talking her up, fuckface!” Iruma scolded.

“Iruma-san, this really isn’t the time,” he responded, summoning his gun while Momota brought forth his sword.

“Whatever, just pay attention if you don’t wanna get fucked in the ass! Wind and ice, significantly stronger than you so you-” She cut off for a moment, a faint noise indicating that she was probably talking to Iidabashi. “Shithara, get behind Keebs, Momotard, you’re on your own! Just make sure Kaede doesn’t-”

 

Whatever she was going to say next was lost, as a blast of wind tore the headset off Shuichi’s head. That same blast sent him flying backward, crashing into the ice wall roughly. Most of the force hit his arm, and he grabbed it as he crumpled to the ground, groaning in pain. After a moment of stunned hesitation, his three companions ran to his side, Kiibo and Momota acting as a shield while Akamatsu dropped to her knees, grabbing his arm and  _ pushing- _

Shuichi screamed in pain, the numbness that had spread from the impact quickly evaporating. He tried to squirm out of her grip, watery eyes meeting her own.

“Sorry! You, your arm’s dislocated, just-!” She pushed harder, this time accompanied by the healing. As the numbness thankfully returned, he heard Kiibo shouting.

“Why are you attacking us?! We don’t want to fight!”

“I care not for your desires. You are in the way of mine. I must make sure you stay out of my way.”

 

“Don’t waste your breath, Kiibo,” Momota growled, “Let’s just kick her ass.” He glanced back, and upon seeing that Akamatsu was just about finished, he ran forward, slashing at one of Titania’s legs, the only part of her his sword could reach. His predictable action was easily dodged.

“Understood,” Kiibo suddenly said, likely following an order from Iruma as he raised his arm. Around his wrist, an icy blue cannon appeared, like something straight out of science fiction. It enveloped his entire hand as it formed, and from Shuichi’s place on the ground, he could tell that Kiibo’s artificial eyes were glaring.

 

Then, a silver beam tore out of the cannon, hitting Titania’s shoulder. She was knocked back, but only just.

“Okay, well, we thought that would hit harder,” Iruma commented in Shuichi’s head, “Might be time for you pussies to get running.”

“I’m not a fuckin’ pussy,” Momota spat, refusing to attempt to flee.

“Oh yeah? Could’ve fooled me, you-”

“Miu, Momota-kun, please!”

 

“Foolish children.” Titania’s voice reverberated through the air, the ice walls surrounding them growing higher. Shuichi swallowed, terror coursing through his entire body. This was it. They were going to die, for real this time.

“Don’t worry, everyone!” Kiibo shouted, though his voice was strained, “I can free us!” He aimed his arm-cannon towards the ice, another blast shattering a section of it. “Hurry, let’s go!”

Shuichi and Akamatsu wasted no time obeying. He let her duck through the hole first, head jerking to look towards his best friend. “Momota-kun! Come on!”

“I got this, don’t worry!” Momota shouted back, hurrying out of the way when Titania sent a collection of jagged icicles in his direction. They pierced the ground where he’d previously been.

 

Shuichi cursed under his breath, and charged back into the battle.

 

A few poorly aimed shots in her direction quickly returned her attention to him. She scowled down at him, the wind that whipped around her causing her hair to fan out menacingly. Not wanting to get thrown again, Shuichi ducked behind Momota, hiding in his back in hopes of using him to ground himself from the incoming attack. The wind swept down to them, Momota barely remaining standing himself as he had to widen his stance to stop himself from falling over.

“Momota-kun, listen to me. No one’s calling you a pussy, we just need to retreat for now.”

“I know that! But I told you, I got this-” He clearly did not have it, as another icicle she sent flying at him while he was distracted pierced his thigh. He dropped to a knee as the injured leg gave way under him, grunting when said knee hit the concrete road beneath them.

 

Alright, fleeing was now out of the question. That was nice. Shuichi tried not to panic as he crouched down, still using Momota as a shield as he shot up at her. She hardly seemed affected, a ring of icicles surrounding her as she prepared to attack again.

Thankfully, before Shuichi could continue fearing for his life, the wail of Akamatsu’s piano broke Titania’s concentration. It didn’t stun her in the same way it did Shadows, but she still turned to look, curious at the source of the sharp noise. “What are you doing?”

Akamatsu looked frightened as she shakily responded, “Trying to help my friends. I can’t let you hurt them any more.” Her fingers danced across the keys, tune shifting to a softer melody to heal Momota. As she did so, Titania slowly lowered to the ground, the annoyance in her expression fading away as she appeared to be listening to the music she was playing.

 

Slowly, Shuichi stood, pulling Momota up as he did so and dragging him towards the exit, keeping a tight grip on him as to avoid the fight restarting by any further rashness. As they passed by Akamatsu, he could see sweat dripping down her face as she continued to play, likely from stress and the aimless healing draining energy from her psyche.

“Human, tell me your name,” Titania finally interrupted, and Akamatsu’s fingers slowed to a halt.

She shakily exhauled. “It’s Akamatsu.”

“Akamatsu..?” She hovered closer.

She shook her head, but didn’t step away. “Just Akamatsu.” A whisper of  _ don’t tell her your full name _ sounded in Shuichi’s ear from Iruma.

Titania pursed her lips. “Very well. I would like to exchange the Makangos for something.”

 

“An exchange?” She asked, holding her elbows tightly in her hands. “Um...” She glanced back at the group.

“Return here tomorrow during this... ‘Dark Hour’. Play for me for the entire hour. I will give you one Makango for every 3 minutes you play. Do you accept?”

“The entire hour?” She echoed, eyebrows knitted together in worry. “And what happens if I can't?”

“Then I'll give you however many you've earned.” She smoothed out her dress. “I believe that to be fair, don't you?”

 

Akamatsu was silent for a long minute. “Alright. I'll do it.”


	37. 3/8 Time

**July 26, 201X - 5:34pm CEST**

“Can’t believe we’re just fucking going along with that bitch’s demands,” Iruma muttered in the corner of the lab, arms crossed as she glared at nothing. She had been making comments along those lines for the past half hour, even at her sister’s request to hold off on talking about it until they returned.

“We don’t have much of a choice.” Akamatsu gave her and the rest of the group a tight smile. “Besides, it’s not like it’s unreasonable; I just need to play for her. That’s all.”

“That’s not all!” She stormed over to her sister, anger in every stomping footfall. She pointed at her accusingly. “It’s gonna hurt you! You can’t push yourself like that and you know it!”

 

She gave her a level stare in response. “I won’t change my mind. I’m sure I can figure out some way to make my stamina extend that long. I mean, we’ve explored Tartarus for close to an hour, and while I don’t play constantly, I bet I can safely push the limits without it being too bad.”

“Still, she’s got a point...” Momota tried to add, only to receive a shaked head from her.

“Remember, they said it would only be a problem if we were constantly pushing ourselves, like multiple days in a row. This is a one day thing, then I’ll take the week off, if need be.”

At Kiibo’s side, Iidabashi nodded along. “If you were beginners, I would be more concerned, but I believe Akamatsu-san should be capable of handling this. With careful attention, she should be able to minimize her energy usage, as she said.”

 

“See?” Akamatsu smiled at his agreement. “Although, I’m going to need some help in doing that. Saihara-kun should know what I mean.”

He blinked. “I do?”

“You know how I practice my healing with you back at the dorm? I always have to use the piano in the control room instead of my keyboard. But, since Iidabashi-san is able to create electronics that do work during the Dark Hour...”

The realization dawned on him. “Oh! I see! So you think by not summoning the piano from your psyche, that could help reduce your energy output?”

She gave him a bright smile. “Exactly!” She turned to the professor. “Will you be able to do that?”

 

He rubbed his chin. “It shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll send a request for one shortly, then begin modifying it as soon as it arrives.”

Iruma shoved her way past Shuichi and Momota to stand in front of Iidabashi. “No fucking way!  _ I’m _ gonna be the one rigging that up for her!”

He shook his head, expression tight. “I believe it would be more safe if I were to-”

“I’m Iruma fucking Miu, the gorgeous girl genius whose inventions are gonna take the world by storm! Panties will be wet, pants will be tented, just from the sight of me!” She boasted, sneering. “So don’t get in my way, grandpa.”

“Iruma-san, please!” Kiibo shoved his way in-between the two, attempting to break up the one-sided argument. “The professor is very skilled in Dark Hour technology; this would best be left in his hands.”

“Yeah, well, I can be skilled in it as well! I learn faster than a virgin takes to cum-”

 

“Miu,” Akamatsu snapped, scolding glare sharp, “Stop it.” Her harsh tone caused Iruma to shrink, her hands entangling together close to her chest as she bit her lower lip.

“I, I just, I just wanna be helpful... C’mon, don’t be mad... I just don’t trust a stranger with an instrument you’ll be using, you know?”

Her expression softened, though she was still frowning. “I understand. But you could just ask to help instead of lashing out at him.”

Iruma whimpered, shifting her weight from one leg to the other and back again. Without looking up from her shoes, she quietly said, “Can, can I help, then..?”

Iidabashi was silent for a moment. “Very well then. I can show you how to build machines to work during the Dark Hour. I’m sure you’ll be needing that, as a fellow inventor.”

 

Iruma brightened up, and before they could get off-topic again, Shuichi stepped in. “So, I have some questions. Shadows, the Dark Hour, Demons?”

The professor frowned. “I could only guess what Demons are, based on what that one told you.”

“She said that humanity created the Dark Hour. What’s that mean?” Momota pushed.

His face twitched, and he swallowed audibly as he turned away from the group. “I... used to work for this research facility in Japan. They were studying Shadows, and I was hired to design the security system for keeping the Shadows restrained.” He paused, inhaling through his nose. “I wasn’t sure exactly what they were doing, nor did I necessarily agree with their methods, but I was in desperate need of funding. So...”

 

He shook his head. “That hardly matters. The point is, three years ago, there was... There was some sort of error in the system I built. Some of the larger Shadows they were keeping broke out of their enclosure, and they destroyed the facility, releasing a large number of other Shadows in the process. The researchers that survived believe that to be the event that caused the Dark Hour to form.

“So, in a way, she was right. Foolish humans like myself are the reason for this mess.” His shoulders slumped.

“Damn,” Momota breathed out.

“Is that who you’re hiding from?” Shuichi asked. “I apologize if I’m misinterpreting, but it sounded like you were, when we met.”

 

Iidabashi crossed the room to his desk, gripping the edge to support himself as he leaned over it, back still turned to the group. “I quit shortly after that accident and moved here to Novoselic, and avoiding contact with the other researchers was a reason for that, yes.” He let out a long, heavy sigh. “I don’t like to talk about this; too many bad memories, you understand?”

“Of course! We’re sorry to bring that up,” Akamatsu responded, “We’ll give you some space; just let us know when the keyboard is ready, okay?” At his nod, she ushered the group out of the room, efficiently taking control of leadership for the moment, not that Shuichi minded.

 

“Research facility for Shadows, huh.” Momota scratched the back of his head as they walked down the hall. “Lot to take in. What do you think about all this, Shuichi.”

“I think there’s still more to the story, honestly,” he answered. It had seemed as if Iidabashi was still avoiding disclosing the whole story, not that Shuichi blamed him. “But it’s a place to start investigating, at least. We can dig around more once we get back to Japan; I can see if my uncle knows anything about it, or could help us dig into it more.”

“Sounds like a plan, then.” He gave him a pat on the shoulder. “For now, let’s rest up; that fight was exhausting, and Akamatsu’s gotta be at full strength for tomorrow.”

 

“I’ll be going with Keebs to find out about the keyboard,” Iruma reported, resting her own arm on said robot’s shoulder, “If I’m gonna be any use, I’ve gotta start cramming it all into me now.”

Shuichi winced. Couldn’t she say anything normally? He glanced to Kiibo to get his confirmation, only to find him spacing out. Or the robot equivalent of spacing out, at least. “Kiibo-kun? You alright?”

His eyes shifted, the cameras in them refocusing. “Ah, yes, I apologize. I was just thinking...”

“About..?” He prodded, curious.

He frowned. “I suppose I’m just... disappointed with how my first battle went. I couldn’t even activate any of my defensive capabilities; I was panicking too much, I suppose.”

 

“Hey, don’t worry man,” Momota said, “That’s normal; our first battles were even more messy than that was, but we didn’t let that stop us!”

“The idiot’s right!” Iruma agreed, though her insult caused him to sputter, “Sides, we can teach you real good someday, isn’t that right?” She wrapped her arms around him and ran her fingers along his chassis, a lecherous grin on her face.

Kiibo’s face went red. “Er, well, um, ah- Let’s, let’s get going, alright?” He avoided answering, pulling himself out of her grasp and hurrying down the hall. Iruma wasted no time running after him, a too-excited look in her eyes. The three of them that remained sighed at her predictable behavior.

 

* * *

**July 27, 201X - 4:58pm CEST**

The following day passed quickly but uneasily, spent mostly in their guest rooms as they rested up for the night- no, evening to come. Thoughts swirled in Shuichi’s head, anxiety making it impossible to concentrate on any one train of thought. Iruma and Kiibo were absent the entirety of the day, holed up in Iidabashi’s lab, presumably. It wasn’t until it was nearing four in the afternoon that they were summoned to the lab, Iruma proudly shoving the modified keyboard into her sister’s hands, and then promptly shoving them back out the door to be hurried off to the subdivision so they would be there in time to meet with Titania.

 

The four of them - joined by Iruma instead of Kiibo this time - waited for the Dark Hour in uneasy silence. Shuichi couldn’t find anything to say, and it seemed his friends were struggling with starting a conversation as well. So they didn’t, and before too long, the Dark Hour fell upon them.

Titania was just how they left her once the battle had finished; she had returned to the position she had been in when they first approached her, her herd of stolen Makangos settled down beside her. “You returned. Are you ready to play?”

Akamatsu nodded. “I am.” Her hands already hovered over the keys, waiting for approval to start.

She looked over the keyboard. “You won’t be using your potential?”

“This is a tool to help me use it better,” she explained, “My playing will be the same. You don’t mind, right?”

 

Titania paused. “Very well, then. Please, begin.”

Akamatsu nodded, taking a deep breath before letting her fingers lower, staring out with a soft piece Shuichi was familiar with. He didn’t know its name, but she often warmed up with it. Within the first minute of the piece, a soft smile graced Titania’s face, her eyes drifting closed. Their strength compared to hers made such a blatant display of vulnerability possible, since it wasn’t possible for them to hurt her. Shuichi looked between Momota and Iruma, sharing a decisive nod with them before moving to sit down in a patch of grass to listen as well.

 

At the three minute mark - at least, Shuichi assumed it to be three minutes - one of the Makangos stood, trotting across the space between them and Titania to sit beside them. The last bit of tension in his shoulders relaxed, the proof that she was upholding her end of the deal clear enough.

As more time passed and Akamatsu switched to more upbeat tunes, Titania rose and begun dancing, the herd joining her readily. And as more time passed, like clockwork, Makangos left the circle one by one, settling beside them to wait to be returned to reality.

 

The first mistake came after the 14th Makango joined them, a slight slip of the finger causing an awkward note to join the melody. Iruma immediately jumped to her feet, weaving between their herd to hurry to her sister’s side. Shuichi stayed put, but kept a closer eye on Akamatsu’s condition. Sweat dripped down her face, her normally calm expression twisted from the force of her concentration.

“Think she’s gonna be alright?” He asked Momota, Shuichi nervously sweating himself.

“Of course; this is Akamatsu we’re talking about.” He sounded confident in her, so Shuichi nodded and allowed himself to believe that she would be able to rescue the remaining five.

The fifteen remaining minutes were near torturous, despite the pleasant music. Every error felt like a punch to the gut, only able to watch the frustration in Iruma’s expression at her inability to help her sister. Even from where he was sitting, he could see tears building up in her eyes as Akamatsu’s breathing became labored in the last few minutes.

 

But finally, the last Makango hurried over to join them, leaving Titania alone across the way. Opposed to the peaceful expression she had worn at the beginning, she looked crestfallen. No, not crestfallen; perhaps bittersweet would be the correct description for the look in her eyes.

She looked directly at Akamatsu, despite the fact that she hadn’t been broken out of her trace yet. “Thank you, Akamatsu.” Then, before she could acknowledge the thanks, Titania faded away. The music followed her, echoing notes disappearing into the vast fields surrounding them as Akamatsu’s hands fell away from the keyboard. A shaky exhale escaped her. She almost managed to remain upright until Shuichi and Momota made their way over to the two of them, but her fatigue collapsed in on her.

She crumpled backwards into her sister’s arms, unconsciousness settling upon her as the Dark Hour lifted.


	38. Overprotective

**July 27, 201X - 5:01pm CEST**

Shuichi could only imagine how strange it must’ve looked for them to be sitting alone one second and surrounded by Makangos the next. He sincerely hoped no one happened to be looking outside their window as the four of them entered and exited the Dark Hour; that would be difficult to explain.

“So, uh...” Momota scratched his head, looking back over to the herd. “What’re we doing with them?”

“I’ll contact Princess Sonia and inform her that you’ve found them,” Iidabashi said through the headset, “For the time being, just watch over them. I’ve sent Kiibo on ahead with some feed to keep them occupied.”

“Ah, alright...” Shuichi nodded, and there was an audible click as the connection clicked off, signalling Iidabashi’s departure. He quietly sighed as static filled his ears, and he pulled them off his head to hang around his neck as he looked over to his teammates.

 

“So... We’re going to be waiting for a bit. Is, is Akamatsu-san okay? If you need to, Iruma-san, you can go on ahead back. We, um, we can handle things here.” Probably.

Iruma took a long moment to respond, adjusting Akamatsu in her arms to hold her bridal style. Her stance showed no sign of weakness, despite supporting her entire weight. “Like I’d trust a bunch of fuck-ups like you two to not ruin Kaede’s hard work.” She scoffed at them, not caring when her remark caused the two of them to flinch.

“Hey, we’re not fuck-ups!” Momota shouted, causing a nearby Makango to startle and hurry away, joining the larger group. Shuichi placed a hand on his shoulder, attempting to placate him.

“Keep calm, Momota-kun. She’s just worried about Akamatsu-san, that’s all.”

“I’m not worried!” Opposed to her words, her hands tightened, blunt nails digging into her sister’s clothing. “Just shut up and get to work keeping them in line!” She jerked her head in a nod towards the herd, before turning and storming away in a huff to sit down on a nearby bench. Momota muttered something under his breath and slipped away from Shuichi’s loose grasp to jog over to encourage any straying Makangos back to the main group.

 

Kiibo thankfully showed up relatively quickly, accompanied by a black cloaked man with a tattoo over his eye. Said man paid them little heed, his attention entirely on the herd. Or perhaps it was the herd that had their entire attention on _him,_ as they hurried over and crowded him and the sack of food he held.

“Returned from your journey into the Underworld to wreak havoc upon the world at long last? Excellent! The Generals of Darkness have been awaiting you, and I, Overlord of Ice, will lead you forth on the black road of destiny!” The man gestured wildly as he spoke, but his loud volume didn’t drive the Makangos away like Momota’s had. Instead, they eagerly followed after him as he led them down the path, noises of contentment drowning out any further words of nonsense he fed them.

 

“Underworld? Is he talkin’ ‘bout the Dark Hour?” Momota asked.

As Shuichi was scratching his head alongside him, a hundred percent baffled, Kiibo joined them with a wide smile. “Don’t worry, Tanaka-san will return them to their owners. Eccentricities aside, he’s the perfect man for the job!”

“Riiiight,” Momota drawled out, shooting a glance towards the disappearing herd, “Anyway, let’s, uh, let’s get going back then..?”

“Of course!” He paused, then looked to Shuichi. “We need to get you all your reward from the Princess, after all!”

Shuichi blinked. “Reward?”

“You didn’t know? There was a pretty hefty reward for finding them.”

He shook his head. “I didn’t think about that. And honestly, this vacation has been more than enough of a reward to me, so...”

 

Momota and Iruma, the latter of which had just wandered back over, gaped at him. “Are you serious, Shuichi?!” “What the fuck, are you a fucking idiot?!”

He winced at their combined volume. “Um, er, well...”

“You gotta ask for _something!”_ Momota continued, “If not for yourself, then for Akamatsu!” ... He had a point.

“Sorry, I- I wasn’t thinking. Um, but, she needs to wake up first, before we figure that part out.” He turned back to Kiibo. “Can it wait?”

He paused. “Well, probably, but, um... Aren’t you leaving tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow evening, yeah,” Momota answered, “We’ve still got a little over 24 hours till our flight out leaves. I’m sure she’ll be awake by morning, so there’s no need to worry!”

“You better be right about that.” Iruma huffed. She then tilted her head towards their robot companion. “Anyway, Keebs, you wanna tell them the good news?”

 

Shuichi frowned in confusion. “Good news?”

“Ah, yes!” The LEDs in Kiibo’s eyes brightened up. “I was talking with Iruma-san at length last night, and I’ve decided that I want to come to Japan with you all and join your team, if you’ll have me. I promise I won’t disappoint you!”

Shuichi was silent for a moment, processing the announcement. “Oh, uh, that should be okay. We’d love to have you.” With the ever-increasing dangers of Tartarus, having a larger group could only be beneficial. But... “You’ll have to figure out where you’re going to stay, though; the dorms are only for those approved by Hope’s Peak Academy.”

Kiibo beamed. “That’ll be no problem! I’m sure any school would love to have an amazing student like me around!”

“So you’re gonna transfer in? Your old man alright with this?” Momota asked.

He hesitated. “Well... I haven’t exactly told the professor my decision yet. He was very tired from how busy he was helping build Akamatsu-san’s keyboard.” And speaking of which, Kiibo hurried over to where it had been abandoned to collect it, continuing to talk as he did so. “But I’m sure he’ll agree; studying abroad can only do good things for my learning AI! Plus, I’ll be able to finally fulfill my purpose of fighting Shadows!”

 

Fighting Shadows, huh. Shuichi wondered how good of a purpose that truly was. He couldn’t imagine ever being thrilled to fight them. He wasn’t like that; he only fought because he had to, to keep himself and his friends safe. If he could make it so he never had this potential... Well, perhaps that was taking it a bit too far. It was thanks to the Dark Hour that he had gotten so close to his dormmates, after all. Without the Dark Hour, he might never have met Kiibo, or Iruma, or Ouma. Thinking about it like that, perhaps the fighting was worth it.

 

* * *

**July 28, 201X - 2:42pm CEST**

As if to spite Momota, Akamatsu didn’t wake up the next morning.

 

_Okay, that was probably too dramatic._ Shuichi chewed on his lip, recalling how the morning had gone. She _had_ woken up, briefly. But she’d barely sat up before she decided that she was still far too tired to be a functional human being and groaned, flopping back down and rolling over back to sleep. Shuichi almost wished he could do the same. But instead, he had to join Sonia for lunch and uncomfortably laugh off the excessive amount of praise being put upon them and himself specifically.

At least they weren’t asking _how_ they’d recovered the Makangos. He wondered if Iidabashi had told them the truth or made up a cover story. Either way, he was glad he didn’t have to create a story on the spot; prior experience told him that would only end poorly.

 

“Please, allow us to show our gratitude. Anything you want, we will do our best to fulfill!” Sonia encouraged for easily the 30th time in the past hour.

“I know that, but...”

“How about this,” Iruma interrupted, “Give Saihara here an IOU, and we’ll get back to you when we decide? He’s completely hopeless at making decisions without someone to hold each hand.”

He flushed. “Iruma-san, that’s not true in the slightest-”

“Oh, of course!” Sonia covered her mouth, as if Iruma had revealed something startling. “I apologize, you may take all the time you need to decide!” She paused, checking her watch, then gestured to two of her guards. “It’s just about time to head over to the airport. Please go gather their luggage.”

 

The two nodded and headed out, and once they were out of sight Sonia turned her attention back to them, smiling sweetly. “Is there anything you would like to do before you head out as well?”

Iruma quickly shoveled the last remaining bites of food into her mouth, not bothering to swallow before shouting. “I gotta talk to Keebs and Iidabashit before we go!” Right, they had to see if their robot companion was coming with. They hadn’t seen him all morning.

Sonia’s expression didn’t waver at Iruma’s insult, thankfully. Shuichi hoped she hadn’t heard it at all. “I’m sure they’d love to see you off! You know where his lab is, so I’ll leave you to that. Just meet us at the front gates a bit before four, okay?” They nodded, and she gave them a polite bow before letting her remaining guards escort her out. Shuichi imagined being princess was very busy.

 

“I’m gonna go check up on Akamatsu,” Momota declared once it was just the three of them, “You don’t need me to get Kiibo, so I’ll see if she’s doin’ alright and bring her to the meeting place when it’s time to leave.”

Shuichi nodded. “Sounds good. See you later, then-”

“You better be careful with her, Momotard! If you do anything weird to her, I’ll make you regret it!”

“What the fuck’s your problem?!” Momota spat at Iruma’s insinuation, meeting her glare with one of his own, “I’m not that kinda guy! Can’t you express your worry for her like a normal person?!”

She shrunk, whimpering. Shuichi sighed. “Momota-kun, you don’t need to take everything Iruma-san says so personally. Just go get Akamatsu-san, alright?”

He clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Yeah, yeah. Sorry, Shuichi.” Without acknowledging Iruma’s about-face, he hurried out of the room, shoulders tense.

 

Shuichi pinched the bridge of his nose. “Alright, let’s get going too, then.” Without waiting for an answer, he headed out a different door, one that led in the direction of Iidabashi’s lab. In the corner of his eye, Iruma hurried after him, nervously rubbing the palms of her linked hands together.

“Hey, Saihara, do you think I’m not normal?”

He didn’t respond immediately, mulling over how to respond. He decided to be honest. “I don’t think anyone would call you normal.”

“O-Oh.” She was silent for a few seconds. “Well, well, they’re right. I’m... I’m not normal! I don’t wanna _be_ normal! So there!” She pulled out the haughtiness again, but Shuichi couldn’t help but see through it for what it really was - an insecure facade for a girl who didn’t want to show that not being “normal” was bothering her. However, he wasn’t sure if he could help her with that; they weren’t exactly close, so he wasn’t sure what to say to her.

 

So he didn’t say anything, instead turning his attention to the faint sound of voices down the hall. Rather loud voices. Yelling? He frowned, motioning for Iruma to keep silent with a finger to his lips, focusing his hearing as they drew closer to the source.

 

“Professor, that is not an explanation! Please explain to me; don’t I deserve at least that much?”

“Don’t say such guilting words; this isn’t about what you deserve. This is about your safety- our safety.”

“How is going to school like a normal student relevant to keeping myself safe?! I can easily have self defense tools installed if it is an unsafe city Japan, but the way Iruma-san and her friends talk about their daily life, I cannot see it being such a place!”

“If you want to go to Japan, I can find a school for you to go to. But I won’t send you to Hope’s Peak. They’ve already taken too much from me; I can’t risk something happening to you too.” There was a deep pain in Iidabashi's choked words. Shuichi bit his lip, confused.

Kiibo was clearly confused as well. “What? What are you talking about?”

 

There was a long pause, during which Shuichi and Iruma pulled closer to the lab, door left cracked open just enough for him to see Iidabashi placing something into his computer.

“This is the only surviving footage from the lab I used to work at.” He paused, clicking something. “The lab located deep underground where Hope’s Peak stands, completely funded by the school.” A monitor on the wall turned on with a soft hum, before-

 

Loud screeching filled the room, flashes of black and red dancing violently within the heavily pixelated scene. Kiibo stumbled back in alarm, tripping over some wires and landing on the ground with a heavy bang. Shuichi didn’t look to see if he was alright; he couldn’t stop staring at the swirl of colors, entranced by the heavily distorted screams and the way the blacks and reds slowly gave way to a familiar shade of green, before clicking off, leaving behind dead silence.

“And this-” The professor’s face was twisted with rage, glasses glaring with him to hide his eyes. _“This_ is why I will never, _ever_ allow you to attend that, that _twisted shadow of a school!”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, the Novoselic arc ends. I didn't intend for it to last for so long, but it kept growing and that's how it be sometimes ^^; And apologies for the late chapter; I've been sick this week and school's keeping me busy.


	39. Return

**July 29, 201X - 4:19pm JST**

Shuichi couldn't get that video out of his head.

 

He and Iruma had slipped away before their eavesdropping could be noticed, returning after a few minutes to receive the bad news from Kiibo firsthand. Of course, with what they had seen, the two of them saw through him when he downplayed Iidabashi’s reasoning for not allowing him to go to Japan. To his surprise, Iruma held her tongue, only demanding Kiibo’s contact information in case the situation changed. Shuichi doubted anything would; from what he could tell, the professor had his mind completely made up, firm and unyielding in his decision.

 

Kiibo parted ways with them at the airport, genuine sadness expressed through his vocalized regrets of being unable to join them and his body language. Momota, carrying a still-napping Akamatsu in his arms, had raised a brow towards them; he wondered if their expressions showed there was more to the story than their robot companion was letting on. But there’d been a silent agreement between him and Iruma not to discuss it further until Akamatsu was awake to hear as well.

 

They made it back to Japan and took their layover to the nearest airport to Port Island in Kobe without event, ending their trip home a grueling 15 hours after their departure from Novoselic. Despite the sleep he’d managed to get on the flight, the short train ride from the airport to Iwatodai felt like an eternity to his tired body. His morale didn’t improve when, as they arrived at Iwatodai Station, Momota spoke up.

“You can head back to the dorm. I’m gonna head over to visit my grandparents for a bit.”

Akamatsu, who’d woken up halfway into their trip home, perked up on Iruma’s back. “Right now?”

He nodded. “Yeah, sorry. Just wanna check up on them, let them know we made it back safe, that sorta thing.” He gave them a wide grin. “It should only take an hour or two; I’ll catch up with you guys.”

“Alright, then....” Shuichi’s grip on his suitcase tightened as Momota waved goodbye and headed off towards the strip mall.

 

They were allowed all of a minute of silence between them. When he disappeared around a corner to their right, out popped a familiar face from an alley to the left.

“Fiiiinally, that dumb Momota-chan left.” Ouma grinned and strolled over to them.

Shuichi frowned. “What are you doing here?”

“Imitating Harukawa-chan now?” He folded his arms behind his head. “Do I have to have a reason? I’m not allowed to greet my friends back from their vacation?”

He hesitated. “Well, you are, but...” He squeezed the handle of his suitcase tighter. “Were you following us?”

“Of course not!” He whined, “That implies that I was stalking you! I just so happened to be in the area when I saw the opportunity to talk to you, that’s all!”

Iruma snorted. “C’mon, you know we don’t believe that horseshit.”

 

He pouted. “Iruma-chan ruining my fun like the cum-stained blanket she is. I’m being serious, you know. I was just, just waiting for my dear Akamatsu-chan to return home with the souvenirs she promised me-” While he pretended to sob, said girl sighed.

“I didn’t get you anything, sorry. I was too busy to pick up any, anyway.”

Ouma immediately ceased crying. “Oh, okay. I’ll forgive you this one time, in return for you buying me lunch tomorrow.”

“Oh, um...” Akamatsu chewed at her lip for a moment.

 

“Stop being a lil shit,” Iruma objected, “Kaede needs to rest; why don’t you take your boyfriend here instead.” She elbowed Shuichi, causing him to flush.

“Huh, w-what?”

Ouma didn’t react to the mistake, picking at his nails. “Nah, we’re having a lover’s quarrel. I don’t wanna see Shu-chan ever again.”

“Shu, _Shu-chan?!”_

Akamatsu covered her mouth, muffling a laugh. “Alright, cut it out, you’re going to give poor Saihara-kun a heart attack.” She shook her head at the unapologetic grin Ouma shot her. “It’s fine, Miu. You can come too, if you want.”

She loudly huffed. “Yeah, whatever. I’ll think about it.”

 

They resumed their journey back to the dorm, Ouma hovering at Iruma’s side. “So, Akamatsu-chan’s getting a piggyback ride?”

“Yeah, Miu insisted,” she answered, “I, well, I pushed myself a bit too hard during the Dark Hour the night before last.”

He raised a brow, grin unwavering. “Oh?”

“That weirdass country was fucking crazy,” Iruma replied, “There was this crazy bitch Shadow holding some pets captive, and she wanted Kaede to play for her.”

“Demon,” Shuichi corrected, “She said she wasn’t a Shadow.”

Iruma waved him off. “Whatever. Close enough.”

Ouma hummed in interest. “You’ll have to tell me alllll about it later.” Shuichi almost expected Ouma to direct the statement towards him, but the other boy didn’t even blink in his direction.

 

Instead, he tugged the suitcase Iruma was dragging behind her out of her hand and sprinted off. “Anyway, let’s hurry up, Iruma-chan! Work those fat legs!”

“Bitch!” She shouted, readjusting Akamatsu with her newly freed hand and sprinting after him. Shuichi sighed, picking up his pace but not joining the predictable chase to follow.

 

* * *

Surprisingly, he didn’t see their other dormmates until dinner. Well, others minus Momota; he texted Shuichi shortly after he finished unpacking that he was going to be staying with his grandparents for the night, so his absence wasn’t a surprise. Still, it was quiet without him; there was no one to argue with Iruma and Chabashira, which he supposed was a good thing, but it still felt sort of lonely. He tried not to focus on it, instead helping Harukawa with preparing dinner since Akamatsu wasn’t, for obvious reasons. He slowly stirred the curry while the others chatted in the background.

 

“You’ll never guess what happened last night, Kaede-san!” Chabashira excitedly started, “Tenko went to Tartarus with Harukawa-san!”

While his arm stirring the spoon stiffened in surprise, Akamatsu responded with a questioning, “Oh?”

“Harukawa-san said she was bored, so we went to train! The Shadows were pretty weak though, so we decided to challenge those, uh, those uh-”

“The Gigas Shadows on floor 72,” Harukawa filled in, unevenly chopping vegetables with a chef’s knife, "And I said restless, not bored."

“Yeah! Those!” She shouted in agreement, ignoring the second half.

Shuichi swallowed nervously, recalling the bulky wrestler-like Shadows those were. “Ah, um, how, how did that go?”

 

Harukawa sighed. “They weren’t that strong. Even if Chabashira isn’t as strong as I am, she had little problem backing up my assault.”

From the dining table, Chabashira squealed at the praise, her chair squeaking along with her as she bounced in excitement. “Of course! Tenko’s much better than those dumb degenerates! We should just make the team us girls!”

“Tenko-san, you know we can’t do that,” Akamatsu sighed, before looking over to the two prepping dinner. “Did you climb to the next checkpoint, then?”

From the corner of his eye, Harukawa shook her head. “Chabashira was pretty bruised up afterwards, so I decided that was enough. If you can, she still needs that patched up.”

She winced at the request. “I’m not certain... It might be another day or two before I can...”

“Huh?! Is Kaede-san okay?!”

 

The three of them that had gone to Novoselic hesitated, before Shuichi picked up explaining what had happened in the past few days with their meeting of Kiibo and Professor Iidabashi, weapon strength, the encounter with Titania, the Dark Hour and Shadows being man-made...

When they got to the second encounter with Titania, however, Akamatsu interrupted when he started to talk about how the Demon disappeared and she passed out. “You know, something’s been bothering me. About her disappearing, I mean.”

“What do you mean?” Shuichi asked, glancing over to her as he turned the burner temperature down to low.

She drummed her fingers on the table. “As she was fading, I felt this... Mm... It was this weird feeling, like... like our hearts were connected. There was this... this deep sadness, I think.” She paused, increasing the tempo of her drumming as she thought. “Or maybe loneliness? I’m sorry, I’m not certain.”

 

Iruma frowned. “You didn’t mention that.”

“Well, I mean, it just came up...” She shook her head. “I don’t know, it was only a brief second, and it was gone afterwards, so I wasn’t really thinking too hard about it.”

“How interesting,” Shinguuji commented, touching his fingers to the side of his face, “Perhaps there was some connection between your psyche and hers from the length of your performance.” He chuckled. “I am deeply intrigued by these developments. I believe your testimony could lead to further developments in my research.”

Akamatsu smiled, the slightest flush of embarrassment in her cheeks. “Oh, well, if it does, I’m glad to have been of help?”

Shuichi nodded in agreement. “This trip was surprisingly full of information relevant to our own investigation of the Dark Hour.” He exchanged a look with Iruma. “I’m going to start looking into Hope’s Peak.”

 

The four that weren’t in the know blinked. “Hope’s Peak? Why?” Akamatsu questioned.

“Well, when we went to get Kiibo-kun, we hear Iidabashi-san say...” While he shakily explained what he and Iruma had witnessed, Harukawa stood and crossed the room to the stairs, taking her plate of dinner with her. He frowned, wondering if she was still disinterested in learning the truth about the Dark Hour, even after all that had happened. ... Oh well, he’d have to explain it again for Momota to hear, so he could retell the story at training on Tuesday.

“That is... concerning, but also rather revealing,” Shinguuji stated once he’d finished, “If that is correct, that could explain the location of Tartarus.”

Shuichi nodded. “That’s what I was thinking. All the points connect to that; the idea that the destruction of the facility caused the Dark Hour, the location of said facility...” He covered his mouth, thinking. “The question is, if we climb to the top, will we find a way to stop the Dark Hour? Or is it a pointless endeavor...”

“Well, you’ve mentioned those stupid barriers disappear after every full moon, right?” Iruma chimed in. “So, what if that’s weakening Tartarus somehow, and fucking all of ‘em up’ll destroy it as well?!”

 

There was a silence following Iruma’s suggestion as her theory sunk in. “That’s, that’s certainly possible...” Shuichi mumbled, thinking it over, “So... I suppose we’ll continue to do what we’ve always been doing.” His mind drifted, suddenly recalling something Harukawa had said and implied many times. How she “needed” to kill the Full Moon Shadows, how she’d been fighting Shadows for many years, how her power was on an entirely different level from theirs...

Somehow, he had the feeling he couldn’t chalk it up to coincidence any longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Due to my school schedule, updates are moving from Thursdays to Fridays for the time being ^^


	40. Discomfort

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in case: brief implication of suicide-related topics near the end

**July 30, 201X - 1:05pm**

_This is Saihara Shinji, private investigator. I am currently unable to take a call. Leave a message or visit the Saihara Detective Agency in Sangenjaya during office hours, eight-to-six, Monday through Saturday._

Shuichi sighed, hanging up the phone. He thought that calling on a Sunday would give him a greater chance of reaching his uncle, but he knew far too well that his schedule was all over the place, working or not. Shuichi had wanted his help in the upcoming investigation into the school, but... Oh well. He’d have to try again later, or wait for his uncle to notice he called and call him back.

 

Pocketing his phone, he leaned back on the living room couch, grabbing the remote nearly buried between the cushions and turning the TV to the news. Nothing interesting was being reported, just more Apathy Syndrome victims. From what Shuichi knew, the news and public had taken to calling them “the Lost” a while back, still struggling to find the cause behind the sudden recoveries at the start of the month and steady growing of cases towards the end. Without bringing attention to the Dark Hour, it was likely that they would never discover the true reason.

 

After becoming thoroughly depressed by the negativity of the news, he finally shut the TV off, sinking into the couch tiredly. Normally he would be glad for a quiet Sunday in, but being alone with his thoughts for the next five, six hours didn’t sound appealing. He pulled out his phone again. He considered texting Akamatsu to see if it would be a problem if he joined her and Iruma out for lunch, but dealing with Ouma didn’t sound like it would help his mood. Finding someone that wouldn’t be stressful to hang out with certainly limited his options.

 

Shuichi sighed, tilting his head back and throwing an arm over his eyes. He’d go find Shinguuji to talk to, if he hadn’t already headed out to work on an observation study for one of his courses. ... Maybe Momota would be able to hang out? He hadn’t texted Shuichi saying he was on his way back, so maybe he was busy helping his grandparents out with something. It would be worth checking, at least. He gathered up his energy and pulled himself off the couch and out of the dorm, glad that the strip mall was only a short walk away.

 

He found himself smiling at the pleasant chime of the bell hanging above the door as he entered, feeling calmer already just by the musky books and the hope of seeing his best friend. He quickly met eyes with Momota’s grandfather, an equally warm and tall man by the name of Haruto.

He stood up from his seat at the checkout, carefully holding his back as he did so. “Why hello, Shuichi-kun. What brings you here? Here to study?”

“Hello, Haruto-san. Not this time,” Shuichi politely answered, trying not to let his gaze wander across the store searchingly, “Is Momota-kun around?”

Haruto scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Where did..? Ah, yes, Kaito went out to tennis practice. Isn’t that right, dear?” He called across the room.

“He did, he’ll be back later. Kaito said they’re having a training camp soon, and his captain asked him to come in to make up for the practice he missed recently.”

 

Ah, that had to be his fault. Shuichi’s gut tightened in guilt. “I apologize for causing him to miss training. He was with me, after all...”

The two of them stared at him for a brief moment, then softly chuckled. “There’s nothing to apologize for, dearie,” Miku said fondly, “Kaito was very animate in his description of your adventures in, ah, what was it?” She looked to her husband for the answer. When he only hummed thoughtfully, trying to recall as well, Shuichi told her the answer. “Ah, yes, Novoselic. That was it.” She smiled at him appreciatively. “It’s clear he had a wonderful time with you, and experiences like that are far more important than practice that can be made up any day of the week.”

Shuichi bit his lip, silent for a few long seconds. “Well, um, if you say so...”

 

“Why don’t you sit down for a while?” She offered, gesturing him over to the familiar study table. “I’ll make us some tea - or are you a coffee person?”

He hesitated, but obliged, not wanting to be rude. “Coffee, black please.” He waited patiently while she went off to make it, exchanging a few quiet words with Haruto before she disappeared into the back of the store.

 

Shuichi wondered if she said something about him, because afterwards Haruto shuffled over, picking up the feather duster she’d placed down, resuming dusting off the books. “So, Kaito and you are good friends, aren’t you?”

He nodded, fidgeting with his hands. “Ah, yes. Him and Akamatsu-san are, um, well, I consider them my best friends.”

He nodded approvingly. “It’s good that he has a responsible boy like you to keep him grounded.” Despite his response, slowly, softly, he frowned. “Although, though Miku won’t say so, we’re a bit worried about him. Do you know if he’s getting into anything reckless? He’s a good boy, but he does tend to get himself into trouble...”

Shuichi covered his mouth. “Um, well, not that I know of,” he lied. Momota was always being reckless, but he couldn’t tell them that. It would be too much to explain. “Why do you think that? Did he say something strange?” He would hope Momota wouldn’t bring up the weirder events of their trip to his grandparents, but...

 

“No, but a month or so ago, Miku noticed this large burn on his arm.” Haruto paused his dusting to run his free hand along his right forearm.

Shuichi’s stomach dropped. “A-Ah, um, well, maybe you should ask him about it..?” He couldn’t lie about that, in case Momota had already created a cover story. “I’m sorry, I don’t know.” He broke his gaze, staring at the ground instead.

He nodded solemnly. “I see, perhaps I’ll do that. It’s better than sitting around wondering. Don’t worry, Shuichi-kun, I wasn’t expecting you to; just thought I’d ask, just in case.”

The bookstore returned to silence, but Shuichi felt too wound up to enjoy the quiet atmosphere, even when Miku returned with drinks for the three of them and began to fill the store with idle chatter.

 

* * *

**9:13pm**

“Hey, open up!” A loud banging on his bedroom door, accompanied by Iruma shouting, startled him out of staring at the ceiling. He shot up, panic fluttering in his chest, before he realized it wasn’t the Dark Hour; this wasn’t a Shadow emergency. Still, that begged the question of why Iruma was continuing to pound on the door with enough force to break it. So, he got up to answer it-

 

And promptly got it slammed into his face as it was shoved open.

 

“Ow!” He shouted, grabbing his nose as he toppled over, “Iruma-san!”

She looked down at him. “What the fuck are you doing?! Get up!” When he didn’t immediately follow her orders, more concerned with his pain, she grabbed him roughly by the arm and hauled him to his feet, mumbling something about lazy beta boys under her breath. Gee, thanks.

“What’s going on?” He asked once he was finished being correctly aligned upward again. “Did something happen?”

“‘Did something happen’ - of course something happened!” Iruma declared, a predatory grin on her face. “Be grateful! Get on your knees and praise me! This gorgeous girl genius has decided to let you tag along on my outing tonight!”

“Your, your outing? Um... Where are you going?” He asked, not sure if he wanted an answer.

 

She didn’t answer him anyway, instead dragging him out of the dorm, despite his clear reluctance to go along with whatever she had planned. By the time they got to the train station and started heading over to Port Island, Shuichi had resigned himself to his fate. Why were his friends like this? All of them were insane forces of nature, and he couldn’t help but wish that he had at least one friend that was mellow like he was. Then again, he wasn’t sure that he’d want to subjugate someone like himself to their dominant personalities.

 

They ended up at Paulownia Mall, and before Shuichi could hope that they were doing something calm like visiting the arcade, or the cafe, or even karaoke, Iruma dragged him straight over to Club Escapade.

“We can’t go in there!” He hissed, finally resisting her pull, digging his heels in. “We’re underage!”

“Shut up, Sluthara! We’re not drinking, so it’s fine!”

_“S-Slut?!”_

 

“Oh, what’s this? Are the virgins finally getting laid?” Shuichi’s stomach dropped as Ouma popped up, a teasing grin stretching his face.

While Shuichi sputtered, Iruma ignored his words. “There you fucking are. Look, I brought the masochist, let’s go in!”

“Awww, not gonna get all hot and bothered? I knew you were a natural whore, Iruma-chan!”

“S-Shut up!” She gave him a shove that barely moved him. Shuichi wasn’t sure if the shove was intentionally weak or if Ouma was just hard to knock over. “C’mon, get moving before Saihara pussies out like the wimp he is!”

 

And so, against his will, he was dragged into the depths of the club.

 

It was a loud building, a constant sub-bass shaking the walls as lights flashed and people moved in the dim lighting. Ouma and Iruma pulled him over to an unoccupied table in a dark corner, waving down the bartender and ordering non-alcoholic drinks for the three of them.

Shuichi let out a shaky sigh of relief. “So, um, what, what are we doing here? Just, um... Getting drinks and talking? Couldn’t we have done that at the cafe next door?”

The two looked at him like he was stupid. “Of course not! Don’t be a fucking killjoy!” Iruma’s volume caused some of the other patrons to look over at them weirdly.

Ouma kicked her under the table. “You’re gonna get us kicked out again!”

“Again?!”

“Shut up! I told you, those assholes at Wild Duck Burger have something against me! They’re jealous of me!”

“Like anyone would be jealous of you-”

 

“Can we please just... not do this?” Shuichi suggested. He was too tired for their bickering, even if it was “friendly ribbing.”

“Fiiiiiine,” Ouma agreed, thankfully, and ceased kicking Iruma.

She huffed at both of them. “You know I’m right. Anyway, what the fuck’d you even want? Are we talking shit about someone?”

He hummed. “Not this time. I have some juicy rumors I’ve been saving, though, and I thought it’d be fun to gossip with Saihara-chan.”

“I don’t like gossip,” Shuichi said with a frown.

 

Ouma started anyway, ignoring him. “So, you hear anyone talking about that escape website? It was going around before finals.”

“Escape? What the fuck’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, supposedly, if you write your name on the website, you’re able to escape from your daily life. Whatever’s troubling you will trouble you no longer.” He grinned, propping his chin up on his hand. “Or so I’ve heard.”

Shuichi thought that sounded pretty appealing right now. “What happens afterwards?”

Ouma turned his grin towards him. “Interested, huh? I knew you would be; that’s our detective!” Shuichi frowned more, and Ouma sighed. “Buuuut, from the digging around I’ve done, it seems that the website deletes names frequently, so no one’s really sure. With a little more digging, however, I found out some info.”

“And?”

 

“It looks like those that have written their names on the website fall down with Apathy Syndrome shortly after.” The grin fell into a serious line. “So, I suppose it’s escape in the form of giving your life up to the Shadows.”


	41. Concern

**August 1, 201X - 7:00pm**

Shuichi chewed at his lip, watching the clock on his phone blink over into the next hour. He quickly clicked it off, shoving it back into his pocket with a shaking hand. If he didn’t acknowledge it was seven, perhaps then everything would be okay.

Thirty seconds passed before Harukawa let out an irritated huff. “I knew it.” She jerked up from the couch across from him.

“Um, well, maybe we should wait a few more minutes..?”

“If Momota can’t be bothered to show up to his own training on time, then that’s his problem,” she harshly countered, “So unless you’re planning on slacking along with him, let’s get started.”

“Right...”

 

He reluctantly rose, following after Harukawa into the humid night. Without Momota to decide what form their workout would take, Shuichi went along with what she decided upon, which started with two laps around the school. While this sort of exercise was obviously barely a warm-up to Harukawa, Shuichi also found the laps far easier than they had been in the past.

As they started on the next portion - 50 sit-ups and 50 push-ups - the front door to the dorm opened. Shuichi paused, straining his neck towards their exiting dormmate. “Ah, Akamatsu-san!”

She gave him a warm smile. “Hello, Saihara-kun, Harukawa-san.” She paused, stepping down to the sidewalk and walking over into the patch of grass they trained on. “So, Momota-kun didn’t show up after all?”

“Um, no...” Shuichi answered, averting his gaze. “I texted him, but he didn’t answer, so maybe he’s busy?”

 

At his right, Harukawa rolled her eyes. “You spoke to him on Sunday and he said he was coming. Sounds like he just ditched.”

He blinked. “Ah, you heard that?” He’d told Akamatsu about it later that night, but he hadn’t realized Harukawa had been listening in.

“I happened to overhear something along those lines.” She sat up, leaning forward on her knees. “I don’t know why you’re both so surprised; he’s as unreliable as always.”

Shuichi clenched his fists, nails digging into his palms. “He’s, he’s not unreliable, he’s just-”

“Just what?”

“He’s- He’s bad at showing up for training, but, but he’s, he’s still reliable elsewhere-”

“You really think that?”

 

As Harukawa’s blank stare bored into him, his mind spun, trying to find that perfect argument for why Momota couldn’t be at fault when in all honesty, he was.

Thankfully, Akamatsu rescued him from having to struggle in a losing fight. “Well, Momota-kun will come back eventually, and you can scold him for missing training then. But he’s probably just tired and busy from his tennis training; Hoshi-senpai can be pretty intense, from what I’ve heard.”

“And Tartarus is much more brutal, so he should get his act together.” Harukawa pulled no punches in her assault on Momota’s character.

 

“Anyway, so I wanted to ask something!” Akamatsu again attempted to redirect the conversation. “Is it alright if I join the two of you in your training?”

Shuichi blinked. “You want to?”

She nodded, determination filling her eyes. “I know that I’m on support, but, well, everyone else is athletic, and I worry that eventually I’ll be left in the dust when we start climbing Tartarus with more vigor.”

He frowned. “We wouldn’t leave you in the dust.” Like he was even athletic enough for that.

“Two laps, 50 push-ups and sit-ups. Get moving.” Harukawa ordered, causing him to gape at her. But Akamatsu’s face broke into a smile, and she obeyed the sudden order without objection, so he reluctantly kept his mouth shut, returning to his own exercise once she disappeared around the corner at a light jog.

 

Not being the last to finish for once was somewhat of a relief to Shuichi, though he couldn’t say he liked sitting around in his sweat-drenched clothes waiting for Akamatsu to finish. Not that he was upset at her for not finishing faster, since she started after them and wasn’t used to training.

Ignorant to his anxiety-driven self-correcting, Harukawa began to speak. “You’ve gotten faster since I last saw you run, Akamatsu.”

The two of them blinked at her sudden praise. “Oh, you really think so?” When Harukawa didn’t repeat herself, Akamatsu continued. “Well, thank you. I don’t think so, but if you say so I’ll believe you.”

“... Yeah.” Harukawa’s lips twitched. “Anyway, I’ll be going.” She rose, not bothering to brush the grass and dirt off her knees as she started towards the dorm.

“Ah, wait!” Akamatsu cried out, “I’m almost done, will you stay until then?”

 

Harukawa paused, expression revealing no conflict as she stood in place silently. Finally, after a long few seconds, she sighed. “Fine. Whatever.” She didn’t rejoin them, but she didn’t leave, plopping herself down on the steps to keep her distance, both physically and emotionally, Shuichi assumed.

Akamatsu relaxed, doing a few more sit-ups before Shuichi initiated a new conversation. “So, um, I remember that you and Harukawa-san used to, um, do Dark Hour things before the rest of us awoke to our potential. If, if it’s alright to ask, how did that start?”

Akamatsu hummed. “It’s a bit embarrassing, but, well, you know how I said that I ran away from home because of my parents?” Shuichi nodded. “Well... Man, so...” She flushed. “The dorm was abandoned, and I was in middle school anyway, so I was squatting in the dorm-”

“You were?” Harukawa and Shuichi both interrupted, causing her face to darken more.

“Yeah, well, you know.” She gave a self-deprecating laugh. “Had to live somewhere.” She paused, glancing to Harukawa. “So wait, you never questioned why I was there?”

She huffed. “I don’t linger on stuff like that.”

 

Shuichi raised a brow, confused at the exchange. “So what happened?”

Akamatsu shook her head. “Right, so, then the school decided to start using the dorms again. They sent in people to help renovate the place to make it liveable, and I had to hide out until they all left. That ended up being the Dark Hour, and I thought that since it was quiet, that no one was around anymore.

“That was clearly wrong, since I walked straight into Harukawa-san while attempting to leave. And, well, some stuff happened, and then I moved into the dorm for real, and you know...”

“Huh.” Shuichi pressed his fingers to his lips thoughtfully, questions on the tip of his tongue. But since she was being purposefully vague, he refrained, holding back his desire for clarification. “So you’ve been able to enter the Dark Hour since middle school?”

 

Akamatsu hesitated. “Um, yes. For about... about two years.” Her eyes shifted, a familiar anxiety in her eyes. Right, she said she didn’t want to talk about that. Shuichi politely dropped the conversation, instead choosing to lie back down and do more sit-ups to finish with her.

 

* * *

**August 2, 201X - 9:15am**

Those extra sit-ups turned out to be a mistake, when he woke up sore and his phone was buzzing insistently near his head. Looks like he’d fallen asleep reading on his phone again. He blinked wearily, groaning as he fumbled for it with heavy arms. Assuming it was a friend, he jabbed the answer button.

“Saihara Shuichi speaking,” he drawled out, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

“Saihara,” a deep voice greeted him; okay, not one of his friends. “Sorry to wake you. This is Hoshi.” Hoshi. Hm. Shuichi blinked slowly.

“... Oh! Hoshi-senpai, um, hi.” He paused. “Why are you calling me?” And how did he get his phone number?

To answer his silent question, Hoshi continued with, “Sorry, asked Toujou for your number. Know this is bit of an odd request, but how’d you feel ‘bout coming over and being an extra body on the field. Got one too many people skippin’ today.”

 

Shuichi slowly sat up, combing his hair with his fingers nervously. “Huh? Um... Me?”

“Yeah, you.”

“... Why?”

Hoshi sighed. “Cause you’re Momota’s friend, and when I was thinking about him skipping and how I need someone to fill his spot, you were the first that came to mind. Nothing more.”

Shuichi frowned, letting his words sink in. “Momota-kun isn’t showing up to practice..?”

Hoshi coughed. “Well, skipping isn’t the right word, I guess. He showed, but he looked dead on his feet so I sent him home. Be no use if he’s exhausted and probably sick.”

“Sick?”

“Yeah. Just a cold, I assume, but with the fellowship comin’ up I can’t risk it spreading.”

 

Shuichi chewed at his lip. “Well, I’ll be over shortly then. Just warning you though, I have no experience playing tennis.”

Hoshi chuckled. “Fine by me. I’ll whip you into shape, don’t worry.” The line clicked off before Shuichi could respond to that. He groaned, flopping back on his bed.

Then, he held his phone above his head, switching to his messaging app.

 

[6:47pm] Shuichi: training tonight?

 

[9:20am] Shuichi: Hoshi-senpai said you were sick?

He didn’t get a response until he’d wandered downstairs to grab a quick snack before he left.

[9:31am] Momota: yh sorry caught smth yesterday and passed out all night

[9:31am] Momota: dont worry i’ll be better by tomorrow and we can hit up tartarus! that’ll make up for me missing training!

Shuichi quietly laughed into his granola bar as he headed towards the door.

[9:33am] Shuichi: you better or Harukawa-san might kill you. She was upset you skipped training again. And maybe worried?

[9:33am] Momota: tell harumaki i said hi and that i did my training at home!!!

 

Shuichi glanced into the living room, where Harukawa sat reading. “So Momota-kun’s sick. But he says hi and that he trained at home.”

“Tell him if he was well enough to train at home he was well enough to walk the ten minutes to the dorm.” Despite her callous words, her tone wasn’t nearly as harsh as it had been the night before.

[9:34am] Shuichi: she says hi back and that you should come back to the dorm

[9:34am] Momota: :D

 

Shuichi finally pulled out of the dorm, wondering if he had time to pop in to check on Momota before he headed to the school. Probably not... maybe after? With a nod, he texted his decision to Momota. The response came quickly.

[9:36am] Momota: i think its best if you dont :/ i dont want my favorite sidekick getting sick

[9:36am] Momota: besides, i’ll see you tomorrow! when i’m better!

The answer wasn’t what he wanted. Shuichi chewed at his lip again, tearing it open.

[9:38am] Shuichi: you sound pretty confident that you’ll be better.

[9:39am] Momota: listen Shuichi, its one of those 24 hour bugs im betting

[9:39am] Momota: so srsly dont worry

[9:40am] Momota: gonna take a nap and regain my strength so we can kick ass tomorrow night, alright? see ya later Shuichi!!

 

Shuichi pocketed his phone with a sigh, then shook his head. He trusted Momota. Everything was going to be okay; he couldn’t let his anxiety take control of his mind when he still had the entire day ahead of him. He picked up his pace to get to the station on time for the next train, pushing away nagging thoughts all the while.


	42. Fatigue

**August 3, 201X - Dark Hour**

True to his word, Momota barged his way in through the door in the middle of their dinner, bright and cheerful as always. At his arrival, Shuichi felt the tension that had built up during the day relax, seeping out of his shoulders as his best friend charged into the kitchen and greeted them all with pats on the back like he hadn’t seen them in months. Reassured that Momota was feeling better, there was no objection towards a trip to Tartarus that night.

 

“It’s been about half a month since we last visited Tartarus as a group,” Akamatsu commented as they prepared in the lobby, “Maybe we should start lower than we left off last time, to warm up?”

Shuichi started to nod in agreement, but was cut off by disagreements from the other half of the group, Chabashira the loudest with, “Just because Saihara-san and Momota-san were slacking doesn’t mean we girls should have to sacrifice our training!”

“I don’t think we- Hey!” Momota, who was starting to disagree with warming up as well, turned to Chabashira. “I haven’t been slacking! Neither has Shuichi!”

 

She gave him a disbelieving look. “Uhuh, and what do you call your absence for the last few days? If you hadn’t been fooling around elsewhere, we could’ve come to Tartarus earlier this week, but this’ll probably be all we have time for before the next full moon is here. We can’t waste time, right Harukawa-san?” She looked to her for approvement, but she just looked away, choosing to stay out of the growing argument.

“I was doing some personal training! Sometimes you gotta do shit by yourself, like your Aikido thing!”

“Don’t compare my Aikido to anything you do!”

 

“Will you both stop it?” Akamatsu finally huffed, “You do this every single time we come to Tartarus. If you’re going to be like this, one of you will stay down here with Miu while the rest of us train.” That shut the two of them up, though they shot displeased looks at each other while Harukawa crossed over to the device.

“I’m selecting 72. You can warm up on lower floors if you want, but I’ll be going on ahead. The next checkpoint is at 85 and I want to reach it tonight.”

At her declaration, Shuichi made his decision. “Well, I _think_ we’ll be okay without a warm up...” He glanced to Akamatsu, who shrugged, then nodded. He looked back to Harukawa. “So let’s stick together.”

 

She didn’t respond, just waiting until the four of them gathered into the device. Shuichi was a bit glad that Iruma didn’t need to come with them; fitting them all in on one trip up was a bit tight with five people. Though, he supposed they didn’t need to fit into one trip, since the guardians on 72 had already been defeated. Still, it was more reassuring to stick together, especially in Tartarus.

 

Momota led the way as they ventured out into floor 73, maroon sword already drawn. Chabashira quickly followed his lead, posed to one-up him in the event of an ambush with her jo staff, which had turned a lighter shade of red since they last visited. At some point there needed to be a talk about this stupid rivalry of theirs, but for the moment that was the last thing on Shuichi’s mind. A familiar Golden Beetle scuttled around a corner, and Shuichi emptied his mind, diving into the equally familiar flow of battle.

 

No problems arose for once, the five of them fighting their way through waves of Shadows new and old, listening to Iruma bark information in their ears using the dirtiest phrasing possible, running up stairs, rinsing and repeating for 12 floors until they reached floor 85. Along the climb upward, Shuichi had the thought that it was possible they were _almost_ at the same level Harukawa was; she was still clearly stronger and more experienced, but they weren’t struggling to win battles without her nor was her addition causing fights to be unbalanced and overly easy. That was probably good, right?

 

“Alright, we’re looking at a Tower Shadow, just one of ‘em,” Iruma reported as they entered the 85th floor, “Hierophant, so electric skills. Sensing poison and some sort of vulnerability against physical and wind attacks, so Chabashita should probably be up front doing most of the work while everyone else covers her tiny tits.”

“T-Tiny tits?!” She sputtered, face going bright red.

“Wait, why only her?! I’m a physical attacker too!” Momota objected, ignoring Iruma’s vulgar statement.

“Do I have to say it _again?!_ You. Are. Weak. To. Electricity.” Iruma huffed. “Just be a good boy and sit down somewhere!”

“Don’t talk to me like I’m a dog!”

 

“Momota-kun,” Shuichi gently cut in, “Let’s listen to Iruma-san, alright? You can guard Akamatsu-san and make sure it doesn’t hit her.”

At his side, Akamatsu was quick to understand what he was after and nod in agreement. “You know how focused I get, right? It’d be really helpful if you looked after me!”

The hint of rage in Momota’s face calmed at having an actual role assigned to him. “Oh, alright! I can do that! No prob!”

Shuichi sighed, both in relief and from the slightest hint of exhaustion building in him. “Alright then, is everyone ready?” They all nodded, expressions serious as the reality of the fight before them rose to the surface and buried the previous discussion.

 

They rounded the corner, falling into battle formation as the Tower loomed before them. It was taller than the ones they’d fought on the lower floors, which Shuichi figured was likely due to it being a guardian Shadow. The Tower was three white heads stacked upon each other, like an abstract work of art. The heads spun, paying them little mind as they drew closer. For a moment, Shuichi wondered if they could just walk by it, when the top head paused, blue-masked face emblazoned with the Hierophant V appearing to stare down at them. Lightning built up in its crown, and the battle begun.

 

In comparison to previous guardian fights, Shuichi had to say that he thought it was going well. The Tower stayed in one place, like the Relic on floor 36, reducing their worry about dodging to just watching out for stray bolts of lightning and backing off when it emitted poisonous gas. His and Harukawa’s attacks didn’t appear to do a ton of damage, but their role was backup so he didn’t mind. By Akamatsu, whose fingers gracefully danced across mint keys, Momota shifted anxiously, longingly looking forward to the front lines. Shuichi kept one eye on him while he shot at it from afar, more worried that he would rush forward than worried about being attacked by the Tower.

 

That was a mistake.

 

The Tower, which appeared to be weakening, suddenly lurched downward, tall body threatening to topple down on the group. Chabashira quickly rolled out of the way; Akamatsu wasn’t fast enough to do the same. Momota, dedicated to his assigned role, didn’t move either, instead bringing his sword up above his head to break the Tower’s fall. That stopped it long enough for Akamatsu to hurry out of its fall zone.

“Alright, Momota-kun! You can move!” Shuichi called out, receiving a grunt in response.

“I got it, just finish it off!” He shouted back, “Don’t think it’s gonna right itself, so just- ugh-” Without warning, his sword began to flicker. It had been so long since Shuichi saw that happen that for a moment, he forgot what it implied.

 

But it seemed Momota hadn’t, as he growled, “Dammit, not again!” and pushed up harder. That only caused the patches in his sword to grow, and before Shuichi could yell at him to stop, the sword vanished entirely.

He blinked, and a red blur tore across the gap between him and Momota, knocking him to the side just in time to avoid getting crushed by the falling Tower. As the Shadow dissolved into black and disappeared, Shuichi saw that Harukawa had been the one to shove him out of the way.

They all rushed to Momota’s side as she was hauling him to his feet. He tried to wave off what had happened, but before he could say anything, he broke out into a coughing fit, likely triggered by the rough landing.

 

“Momota-kun, are you alright?” Shuichi paused, then hesitantly asked, “Are you still sick? You should’ve said something.”

“I’m- I’m not, it was just a day thing, I told you-”

“Why don’t you cut the bullshit already?” Iruma snapped, and they all turned as she waltzed up from the direction of the device. “I wasn’t gonna say anything, but if you’re gonna keep this up and shit I don’t wanna be responsible if you take it too far.”

Akamatsu’s eyebrows furrowed, concern deep in her eyes. “What do you mean?”

“This shithead-” She jabbed a finger in Momota’s direction. “-has been sneaking off to Tartarus by himself. With the exception of last night, he’s been every single fucking night since we got back from Novoselic.”

 

Their eyes widened. Then, Harukawa scowled. “Is this true, Momota?”

“Uh, well-”

“So instead of training with us, or asking to go to Tartarus to train, you had the _stupid_ idea of coming by yourself? Do you _want_ to die? Because if so, I’ll be _more_ than happy to put you six feet under for this stunt.” From the hostility in her tone, Shuichi didn’t doubt a word she said. “Did you forget what we said? You’re putting yourself _and_ your mind at risk if you overexert yourself like this.”

“Harukawa-san, please,” Akamatsu quietly interjected, “Let’s not threaten him, he knows-”

“He clearly doesn’t, seeing as he’s here right now instead of continuing to rest like he was told to.” She turned to him. “Well? What do you have to say for yourself?”

 

Momota clenched his fists. “Ugh... Yeah... Yeah, I came to train...” He sighed, scratching the back of his neck. “It just... really pissed me off that I’m holding everyone back, so I thought... I thought that comin’ here and getting some extra training in would help me catch up.” He frowned, but said no more than that.

Shuichi frowned as well. “You could’ve just told us that. We would’ve come with you and helped.”

He shook his head. “I couldn’t ask you to do that. A man’s gotta do shit like this on his own, you know?” He sighed. “Plus, that’d just widen the gap between us even more, and, well...” He averted his gaze. “Maybe this is as far as I’ll be able to go. Even after four nights straight of training, I don’t feel even a bit stronger. The Shadows still fall, but...”

 

“Some people just aren’t cut out for fighting,” Harukawa harshly commented, turning away, “So maybe it’d be best if you just gave up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Four days until Full Moon_
> 
> See you in two weeks on the 2nd!


	43. I want to protect

**August 7, 201X - 8:03pm**

The next few days passed awkwardly. Momota was subjected to bedrest from his overexertion, and the rest of them tiptoed around him as he moped. Despite his declaration that he didn’t  _ want _ to give up, Harukawa’s words appeared to have dampened his mood, as if confirming his worst fears.

The worst part, though, was that despite him clearly moping, whenever Shuichi would approach him to attempt to talk about it, Momota’s mood would flip back to normal. Without a clear reason to breach the topic, Shuichi uncertainly backed down; if Momota wanted to talk about it, he’d come to them, right?

 

Shortly after dinner, Shuichi settled down in the living room, idly flipping through the calendar and looking at the galaxy photographs, carefully inspecting every inch before glancing at the date for that month’s full moon and flipping to the next. He was too wound up to get anything done, anticipation for the night to come weighing down on him menacingly.

That was when the sound of a phone ringing reached his ears. He paused, looking up. Across from him, Harukawa stiffened, fingers digging into the book in her hands. She snapped it closed, swiftly setting it aside and pulling a phone out of her jacket. Huh. She had a phone?

“Harukawa speaking,” she answered, rising from her seat and moving to the other side of the room. Curious, Shuichi rose as well, moving to the seat she’d previously occupied and peeking over the back to observe the situation.

 

The lobby was silent as she listened to the person on the other side of the line. Shuichi tilted his head, trying to gauge what kind of a call it was from her barely visible, barely changing expression.

“What? Why can’t-” She finally begun to say, but cut off, bringing a thumb to her mouth and chewing on her nail as she continued to listen. She paced along the far wall before again speaking. “When does it land? ... That late?” Her lips pursed. A moment passed before she sighed, “Okay,” and pulled the phone from her ear. She glared down at it as if it’d committed some heinous crime against her before returning it to her pocket.

“Did something happen?” Shuichi decided to ask after a moment.

 

Her mouth twitched. He almost assumed she wasn’t going to answer, but then she slowly said, “That was the school. They want me to go pick up a new dormer, since apparently he can’t ride the bullet train by himself.”

He chewed the inside of his cheek, eyes flickering towards the clock. “Um... Today? Right now?”

“Yes.”

“... And what about the mission?”

She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I know, I know. Just- You or Akamatsu will have to lead it. You can do that, right?”

He swallowed, averting his eyes. “Ah, well, probably...” They’d managed all right against the Priestess, but that was months ago.

 

She gave him a long stare, before sighing and turning towards the stairs up. “‘Probably’ will have to do, I suppose. Just don’t get yourselves killed acting stupid and you’ll be fine.” She started up the stairs, and Shuichi paused. He should ask her. Yeah... Yeah, he should. He squared his shoulders and hurried after her, catching up as she was reaching the third floor.

“Harukawa-san, why are we actively seeking out and destroying these Shadows?”

She paused, frowning as she turned to him. “Why? Don’t ask such stupid questions. It’s because they’re a threat to us.”

“Is that really the only reason though? You keep saying that you need to  _ kill _ them. Killing, not just defending ourselves. Why seek them out when they’re not attacking us?”

An agitated look crossed her face briefly, before she flattened her lips tightly. “Shadows exist to be destroyed; there’s no deeper meaning.”

“But-”

 

“Saihara, I don’t have time for your pointless questions,” She snapped, “I have places to be. Take your search for purpose elsewhere.”

She turned away again, and Shuichi clenched his fists. “You’re avoiding the question!” He called after her uselessly as she briskly headed for her room, “You’re hiding something, Harukawa-san! You’ve said before that this isn’t a game, so why can’t you answer?! This is important to our safety too!”

She refused to answer, slamming her door behind her.

 

* * *

**11:48pm**

Still troubled, Shuichi made his way up to the meeting room just before the Dark Hour set in to discuss the situation. Once he stepped into the room, however, all thoughts left his mind as he gaped at the transformation of the room.

Where previously had only been a projection screen now sat a large collection of monitors, all displaying black screens. He quickly counted them; four by four, so sixteen. Sixteen monitors?! Wasn’t that overkill?! Who would ever need that much of anything?!

“Hahaha!” Iruma strode into his line of sight, hands on her hips. “Impressive, right? The perfect setup for all your porn-watching needs! With this bad boy, you can see it all in stunning high definition, like it’s your own private movie theater! No need to be an exhibitionist and do it in public, un-unless that’s what turns you on..!”

 

Before he could stutter out a response, someone else interrupted her. “C’mooooon, we didn’t sign up to hear your ulterior motives, you disgusting couch stain. Get to the point before I die of boredom!” Ouma sat on the top of the couch, legs dangling off the back side as he stuck his tongue out at Iruma, chin in hand.

“Keep your dick in your pants; I’m getting to it!” She rebutted, marching the rest of the way over to the desk she set up below the monitors, a lone keyboard sitting in the center. To its side was a mouse, and... a helmet?

“So, um, what is this?” He asked as the door opened behind him, Momota and Chabashira shuffling in and going wide-eyed.

“Getting excited?! Don’t worry, I won’t judge if you pitch a tent!” She plucked up the helmet, putting in on. “With this, I can see it all, just like a-”

 

“She made a device to help with her support,” Akamatsu helpfully chimed in, rising from the couch behind Ouma, “She says that with this, she’ll be able to collect data better and provide support from a greater distance.”

“Ughhhh, Kaedeeee, did you have to ruin my eloquently worded speech?” Iruma whined, but turned and clicked on the computer tower on the other side of the keyboard.

“‘Eloquent’, huh, didn’t realize that was a synonym for perverse,” Ouma quipped. She ignored him.

But Momota didn’t, turning to him with a scrutinizing look. “Wait, why’re you here?”

“No need to look so wary; I'm just here to fill in for dear Harukawa-chan, since you guys are oh-so lost without her!”

 

Chabashira’s face twisted in displeasure. “You might've helped before, but you're still a menace and Harukawa-san’s enemy. You should leave before Tenko decides to throw you out!”

“Huh?!” Ouma’s eyes filled with fake tears. “Chabashira-chan is rejecting me?! I thought we had an understanding! Was our night in the love hotel for naught?!” Per usual, his jabbing words only served to agitate her further. Utter disgust filled every crevice of her face, and Shuichi was sure she was mere seconds away from making good on her threat.

Thankfully, before things could escalate, Akamatsu stepped in. “Just ignore him, Tenko-san. He’s just being... Ouma,” she sighed, and Shuichi had to agree; there was really no other way to describe his behavior than that.

Chabashira clicked her tongue, crossing her arms and moving to Akamatsu’s side. “Fine, but if he so much as touches Tenko, he’ll regret it.”

“Like I would ever touch-”

 

“Are you done yet? Can I continue?” Iruma interrupted with a huff, the Dark Hour setting in as she spoke. The room obediently fell silent, looking to her expectantly. At all the attention, however, she wrung her hands, shifting in place before stuttering, “Alright, um, well, so... Since I haven’t modified this to be mobile yet, I’ll, I’ll be staying here while you guys go fight the Shadow. I really wanna test this, so, so you better not say no!”

Momota raised a brow. “You haven’t tested it yet?”

“Well, I mean, I have, but-” She paused, then raised her voice. “Whatever! Just do what you’re told, we don’t have all night!” She pressed a button on the keyboard and the screens lit up, a small ring on the side of her helmet lighting up along with it. The five of them curiously drew closer.

 

“I’m gonna start scanning, so keep your mouths shut, all right?” Iruma ordered, before closing her eyes. After a few seconds, the monitors changed to show a highly detailed map of the city. Only one monitor was different, the lower left showing a smaller version with two red dots: one on the school, one to the northeast of the dorm.

“Iruma-san, what is-” Shuichi started to ask, pointing to the screen as another red dot started to flicker onto it, more north of the dorm than the other one. Also farther north than Shirakawa Boulevard, he noted.

“I  _ said, _ I’m concentrating, shuddit,” she growled, before a triumphant smirk graced her lips. “Got it. It’s-” She paused, forehead wrinkling in confusion. “It’s... Underground? Something’s weird about its signal too.” She turned back to the desk, rapidly typing and clicking. The map zoomed in, shrinking to fit the 2x2 square of monitors in the center instead of the full area.

 

The group stared at the unfamiliar collection of houses for a few long moments, before Ouma spoke. “I’m pretty sure that’s the abandoned side of town. No idea why it’d be there, or why it’d be underground, but I can lead you there. It’s about a ten, fifteen minute walk, so we should get going.”

They nodded, and Momota scratched the back of his neck. “Alright, well, I’ll... see you later?”

They stared at him. “What are you talking about?” Shuichi questioned, and when Momota averted his gaze, the dots clicked in his head. “Just because things didn’t go well in Tartarus doesn’t mean we don’t need you.”

“Er, well, I don’t wanna... you know, drag you guys down. Plus, some should look after Iruma, right? Being in the dorm by herself could be dangerous.”

His excuses were weak - so weak that Shuichi almost felt bad tearing them to shreds. “You staying behind would be more dangerous to us than anything. Iruma-san doesn’t need protecting; Shinguuji-kun is just downstairs, and she knows to call for help if she needs it.” He nervously licked his lips. “We already don’t have Harukawa-san; if you refuse to go, well, then maybe we should just leave the Shadow alone.”  _ We don’t  _ have  _ to fight it, _ he almost added, but he refrained, instead meeting Momota’s eyes.

 

He was silent for a moment. “Well, I guess you’re right.” He firmly nodded, but the smile he gave Shuichi was strained. But before Shuichi could reassure him further, he shook his head, rolling his shoulders as he headed for the door. “Well, enough sitting ‘round, let’s get moving!”

With a short goodbye to Iruma, Shuichi hurried after him. Momota didn’t go far in the time it took to catch up, patiently waiting outside the dorm. “C’mon, you said you were gonna lead the way,” he complained as Ouma exited behind Shuichi, “Hurry it up!”

“Uwah, scary Momota-chan is so demanding!” Ouma cried, but he pulled ahead without argument, casually throwing his arms behind his head as he led them down narrow alleys, weaving around the occasional coffin.

 

Eventually, they began to reach roads without any coffins, and Ouma’s pace slowed, appearing to take more consideration into each turn they made. They started to turn into an alley after him, but then he suddenly stopped, almost causing Shuichi to bump into him. “Iruma-chan, I swear, if you don’t know where the entrance is stop trying to play navigator,” he growled, a tone of voice unheard before from him. Shuichi blinked, not used to any expression of frustration from Ouma, who always wore wide smiles and false tears. That is, if his face wasn’t devoid of emotion at all, a cold mask not unlike the one Harukawa wore herself.

“I’m sorry,” Iruma wailed in Shuichi’s mind suddenly, “Don’t be mad at me, I’m looking..! You’re the one that said you were familiar with the area!”

“Yeah, familiar as in I’ve been here before, not back of my hand familiar!”

“Whatever, it’s close; c’mon, you gotta trust me!”

“You’ll just get us lost for the rest of the Hour, no thanks!”

 

“Are you having trouble, Kokichi?” An unfamiliar voice called out from behind the ground, and Shuichi watched the mask snap away the frustration and replace it with a seemingly pleasant smile as Ouma spun on his heel.

“Angie-chan, it's so good to see you!” He replied cheerfully. Shuichi's eyebrows furrowed, before he shook off his thoughts and Iruma’s “who the fuck, where the fuck-” in the back of his mind and faced the stranger.

Or strangers. Two girls stood a short distance away, postures relaxed. The girl who was likely “Angie” was small and dark-skinned, blue eyes round and wide enough to challenge Ouma’s own childish face. Fair hair rolled over her shoulders in loose ponytails, and she held her hands in front of her as if in prayer.

At her side, slightly behind her, was a taller girl with glasses, about as tall as Iruma, Shuichi assumed. Blue hair fell to her back, but even with her dyed hair, she looked unassuming. She held her hands in her lap, a more genuine pleasant smile of her own gracing her lips.

 

“Hey, Shithara! Stop ignoring me!” Iruma snapped, breaking through his observation daze, “Ask them who the fuck they are and how they’re hiding from my scanning!”

“There’s no need to shout,” Angie replied, appearing to hear her, “God grants his followers protection during His hour.” She tilted her head towards her companion. “Tsumugi, if you would.”

The other girl perked up, moving a hand to her hip. “Of course. I’m Shirogane Tsumugi, and this is Yonaga Angie. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Yes, yes, and just Angie is fine!” She agreed, giving them a clap and a hop, white sundress swaying with the movement.

“You know these two?” Momota questioned, leaning over Ouma’s shoulder, “What, they fight Shadows with you or something-”

 

“Ah! Nothing like that,” Shirogane suddenly cried, “We don’t fight Shadows at all! That goes against God’s wishes!”

“Hm~ So the cult’s still going well, Angie-chan?” Ouma teased?

“I don’t know what you mean.” Her eyes slid shut. “We’re just here to guide you back to the right path. God says you’re hanging around Maki, and that doing so will only lead you down a path of destruction. Won’t you stop this unnecessary violence?”

Ouma hummed again. “Harukawa-chan is my dearest friend, so that's still a no can do, sowwy.” He folded his arms behind his head and gave her a wide grin. “Playing in the Dark Hour is just too fun.”

“So you insist on continuing to fight. I guess that’s no surprise.” Shirogane shook her head. “I would’ve thought you learned your lesson-”

 

“So anywayyy,” he interrupted, “We’re on a tight schedule, very important mission and all, so if you’d kindly be going.”

Shirogane hesitantly looked to Angie, whose eyes remained shut as she responded, “God says not to kill the Shadows, Kokichi. Resist their pull, and we shall live in peace during His Hour.”

Ouma didn’t respond, instead tilting his head towards a large shutter. “That’s the entrance. Let’s get moving.” Taking charge, he strode forward. The four of them hesitated, looking between him and the newcomers. It was only Iruma hissing in their minds to get moving that unfroze them, and one by one they started after Ouma.

“Well, um, it was nice to meet you, Angie-san, Shirogane-san,” Shuichi said, nodding towards them before he left himself.

“Be careful, Shuichi,” was Angie’s only response. Okay, that wasn’t creepy. He moved faster in rejoining the group, unnerved by the encounter.

 

“Man, were they weird or what?” Momota commented as he helped Ouma lift up the shutter, allowing the rest of them to slip through. Shuichi noticed Chabashira purposefully step on his foot for “his negative comment against girls.”

“How do you know them, Ouma-kun?” Akamatsu asked.

Shuichi added on to her question with, “You said something about a cult?”

Ouma sighed loudly. “Geez, so nosy. We met a few times in middle school, that’s all. Then they got really weird about the Dark Hour and formed a cult based on not hurting Shadows or something and I stopped talking to them.”

“And Harukawa-san-?” He began to ask, then sneezed. A thick layer of dust lingered in the stale air, and as the shutter fell shut behind them, the fresh air was cut off.

“When there’s only a handful of people aware during the Dark Hour, you tend to run into each other eventually.” Ouma pulled a flashlight from his jacket, flicking it on. “Oh, it works. Guess Iruma-chan’s useful for something other than innuendos after all.”

“Of course I fucking am, you lil shit! Now start heading down; it’s just down the tunnel ahead.”

 

There was conveniently only one tunnel, so there was no further worries about getting lost as they headed down. As they did so, however, Shuichi became increasingly worried about the contents within.

“What’s with all these weapons..?” He asked no one in particular, eyes lingering on a broken down ballista and cases of ammo scattered across the dirt ground.

“An old storage facility?” Akamatsu guessed, covering her mouth as Momota ran his hand along a large box and kicked up more dust. He looked at his hand, face wrinkling in disgust at the black grime covering it. Shuichi watched with amusement as he shuffled over to Ouma and wiped his hand on him.

He jerked away at the touch. “Ewwww, gross Momota-chan is touching me!” He turned the light onto his shirt to see the damage, causing Momota to cover his eyes with a pained cry as it passed over his face.

“Watch where you're aiming that!”

“You get what you deserve for dirtying my shirt! This is worth a million yen, you know!”

 

Something crunched under Shuichi’s foot. He ignored it, which resulted in his foot catching on whatever it was on his next step, sending him to the ground. Ouma quickly redirected the beam of light, revealing-

“What the fuck?!” Momota shouted, and Chabashira screamed. Shuichi craned his neck; his foot was in the rib cage of a skeleton. A very real skeleton. Bile rose in his throat as he shook his leg to free himself. It wasn’t hard to escape, nor was it a threat in the first place, but he still scrambled away once he was free.

Everyone was silent, before Ouma cheerfully popped, “Welp! That was fun, let’s go before the ghost of this poor soul comes for Saihara-chan!”

“W-W-What?!” Momota stuttered, “There’s- No, no g-ghost is, is coming! Ghost don’t- They don’t exist!”

Ouma’s lips curled into a predatory grin. “Oooooo, is Momota-chan  _ scared~?” _

“Fuck no!”

 

“Shut up!” Iruma suddenly shouted, causing them all to wince. “Listen to Kaede!” They all blinked and turned to her; she’d been saying something?

She flushed. “Oh, well... I was just thinking that I heard something? It sounded like a car engine, or...” She turned her head towards the tunnel leading down. Shuichi listened closely, but he couldn’t hear anything. But...

“Ouma-kun, would you aim the light lower?” When he obliged, Shuichi frowned. “Look, there’s tire tracks.” He kneeled down, running his hand along the loose gravel. “Probably fresh? Sorry, I’m not an expert on forensics.” He paused. “But...”

“But?” Momota stepped over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder as he leaned over to look as well.

“I think... that these aren’t car tracks.”

 

The ground rumbled. Before he could recognize the change in atmosphere, Iruma made them all too aware of what was happening with, “The Shadow’s coming! Move your asses! You can’t fight in the tunnel, it’s too narrow!” The five of them retreated back into the large weapon room, Momota kicking the skeleton aside as he passed by it.

They’d barely reached the center of the room when it tore in, kicking up a cloud of dust as it skidded to a halt. Its body was a tank, army green camouflage patterning it everywhere military insignias weren’t. It loomed in front of them, balanced on its treads like a four-legged animal. Shuichi’s eyes scanned for its mask, but found none. But in a tarot deck, after The Lovers was The Chariot, right? He craned his head up, examining it further; there was some winged head at the top, but he couldn’t see if it had a number on its face.

“This fucker is- Wait- What the fuck?” Iruma mumbled in his mind, but whatever she was trying to figure out was drowned out by the tank firing a shot towards them. They scattered, the bullet landing in the dirt and creating another cloud of dust.

 

Shuichi cancelled his observation, summoning his gun as he darted to Akamatsu’s side with Momota, who already had his sword ready. “Chabashira-san, go for the back legs!” He called out, and she nodded, staff in her hands as she rolled out of the way of another shot. His eyes scanned, looking for Ouma, but he couldn’t see him through the dust.

He’d worry about him later. For now, they had to fight.  _ How the hell was he supposed to fight a tank? _

“There’s something fucked up about it,” Iruma continued as Akamatsu began to play a waltz, filling Shuichi with the confidence to successfully avoid attacks, “I can’t tell if it’s the Chariot or the Justice Shadow; maybe the other one is hiding somewhere nearby, so keep your guard up! Unless you’re into surprise butt fucks, but hey, sometimes you gotta keep the kinks in the bedroom!”

“Thanks for the useful commentary, Iruma,” Momota growled, pulling away from Akamatsu and waving his sword distractingly when it attempted to aim at her. The shot he inevitably had to avoid caught his arm, and Shuichi winced.

“Careful, Momota-kun!” He only received a grunt in response, before Momota ran across the room to continue dodging.

 

He briefly wondered if their attacks were making a difference when the Shadow suddenly shifted, metal creaking and flaking rust as it shuddered and shook. Then, the top of the tank flew off, the head and the wings and the entire turret flying up into the air. Literally. A small knight about the size of a child fluttered above the tank body, the long gun nozzle in its hands. It spun in place, as if searching, while the tank continued to move under it, hind treads spinning to allow it to lurch upright on them.

Ah. There was its mask. On the underside of the tank, almost ready to fall off, was a yellow mask with VII on it. The Chariot. Suddenly, the dots connected.  _ They _ were connected. The Justice Shadow was riding the Chariot.

Justice suddenly shot at a crate along the wall, bullets coming out like the machine gun he’d seen Harukawa wield only a month prior. But it was so much louder. So loud that it was deafening, and his ears rang as Ouma fled from behind the crate, taking refuge behind another. That one was soon destroyed too, as well as the next.

 

“Shithara, what the fuck’re you doing?!” Iruma shouted, “Move your twink ass and fight it!”

His throat clenched in anxiety.  _ Right, sorry. _ He shot up at Justice, keeping an eye on Chariot as he did so. The latter was attempting to lunge at Chabashira, but she was able to dodge its swinging arms. It was thankfully focused on entirely on her.

Another crate was destroyed, and suddenly, Justice turned on him, spinning wildly and diving at Shuichi. It was surprisingly slow, but it took every second of its descent to move both himself and Akamatsu out of its way, they themselves diving as they hid behind a rack of rifles. If it tried to shoot at them to destroy their hiding place, well, hahaha...

It overlooked them, though, and returned to its previous position. There, out of places to hide, Ouma stood stock still, looking up at it.

 

Time froze.

It aimed.

The barrel spun.

Momota shouted.

Momota  _ ran. _

 

As he threw himself in front of Ouma, Shuichi shouted as well, voice cracking violently. “Kaito, no!”

 

Brilliant white erupted between the Shadow and its targets, the torrent of bullets raining down towards it and plinking off the surface. Fear clenched Shuichi’s heart as he darted from his hiding place to check on his best friend. As he neared him, he froze, mouth dropping in shock at the scene before him.

From Momota’s right arm, a large medieval shield had formed, the source of the blinding light and the thing that had deflected the bullets. Behind him, his jacket fluttered and began to settle from the sudden movement, almost as if he were wearing cape. Shuichi found himself mesmerized by the way the galaxy pattern waved, completely and utterly in awe of this new development.

And he didn’t seem to be the only one, as Ouma looked genuinely shocked, either from Momota throwing himself in front of him or the new power he’d awakened to.

 

Unfortunately, there was little time to process everything, as the battle resumed around them, time unfreezing as the Chariot came crashing down, wheels spinning roughly and kicking up more dust as it attempted to rush towards Momota and Ouma. Chabashira chased after it, and Shuichi fired on it as well, but the two ended up having to dodge anyway, ducking and running between the gap in its wheels. Above the Chariot, Justice settled back down into its original location, like an actual soldier ducking back into their tank. The turret spun, spraying a line of bullets outward as it did so. Momota dropped down and let his shield catch the bullets, continuing to protect himself and Ouma, who was practically clinging to his back to avoid getting hit himself. Shuichi considered running over, but he decided to focus on attacking the Chariot, backing up enough to keep himself out of the line of fire.

 

It wasn’t long before the two Shadows separated again. Shuichi prepared to switch targets again, when movement from by Momota caught his eye. He suddenly stood, sword completely gone as his left hand went to his back, because - as Shuichi then noticed - Ouma had thrown his arms around Momota’s shoulders, legs wrapping around his waist. Once he was situated on Momota’s back, Ouma’s right hand moved, pointing upward at Justice almost accusingly.

A gunshot revealed the true purpose of his pointing, a white revolver cracking into existence with enough force that its bullet sent the Shadow spinning, a gaping hole in one of its wings. It immediately attempted a counterattack, but its bullets only met Momota’s shield as he held it up to protect the both of them, running around it while Ouma fired again. His second shot took out its other wing, sending it falling to the ground.

 

“Saihara-kun,” Akamatsu called from behind him, “They can handle it, let’s finish off the Chariot!”

“Right.” He nodded, turning his attention to the Shadow in question. It looked like it had been worn down, dropping to its “knees” as Chabashira relentlessly jabbed at its exposed front. It leaked poisonous gas from the gaps in its armor, but she ignored it, as she typically did. Shuichi hoped that she wouldn’t eventually suffer from her reckless exposure to it. He shook his head, aiming up at its mask and firing a quick succession of bullets.

A minute passed, then Justice’s shriek pierced the air, and Shuichi’s eyes flickered off his target to see black creeping up its body, up its shield-like face, up the cross and over the VIII. It fell, and the Chariot lurched, letting out a gurgled wail as it reached for its partner with one of its wheeled “arms”.

 

It never reached it. Shuichi and Chabashira’s combined attacked felled it as well, the two reuniting for a final time only as sludge on the ground. The tension seeped out of Shuichi’s shoulders as he lowered his gun, releasing a cough that had been building up from the dust into the crook of his arm.

“Whew, that was rough,” Momota complained, wiping sweat off his brow as he walked over to them, Ouma still benefiting from the piggyback ride he’d been given. Now that he was closer, Shuichi could see the faint purple handle on the inside of his semi-translucent shield, though both it and the rest of the shield were soon dismissed by Momota. “Well, let’s get back to the dorm, then. I don’t wanna stick around and see if there’s a ghost or something that’s up for round two.”

The three of them that weren’t Ouma stared at him. “That’s it? No boasting about your new weapon? Are you really Momota-san?” Chabashira warily asked.

Momota sputtered. “Hey, c’mon, I’m tryin’ to be cool here.” He scratched the back of his neck. “Plus I’m really fucking exhausted; you try running around with Ouma on your back while holding back a machine gun.” Ouma kicked his side, and he kneeled, allowing him to slide off his back.

 

Shuichi turned his attention to him. “Are you alright?”

Ouma grinned. “Aw, Saihara-chan’s worried about me! But don’t worry, I’m not tired at all; I’m much better at managing my energy than all-or-nothing Momota-chan who decides it’s a great idea to give his life for people he doesn’t care about!”

“Wha- Is that any way to thank someone?!”

“So reckless! Take better care of yourself! If you die, who am I going to use as a chariot?” Ouma threw his arms behind his head, clearly proud of his word choice.

Shuichi shook his head. “Well, I mean, he’s right... Because, um, you, you shouldn’t do that.”

Momota sighed. “Well, alright. I’ll be more careful.” He then shot Shuichi a smile, patting him roughly on the back. “But seriously, there’s no need to worry. I’ll protect all of you from now on.”

 

Momota encouraged him towards the exit with a light push, shooting a glance towards Ouma as they passed him. Shuichi considered talking to him, but decided to wait. There was time for that later, when they were all rested up. Then he’d pursue some answers. Mind firmly set by the time they reached the exit, he stepped out into the warm, normal night.


	44. Newcomer

**August 8, 201X - 7:00am**

A steady knock stirred Shuichi from his light sleep. He blinked, rubbing at his face as he checked the time and grunted, curling back up in his bed.

“Was that adequate?” The presumed knocker asked, the voice’s owner pulling at his tired mind.

“No, no! You gotta do it like this!” A distinctly Iruma voice instructed, before banging her fist against his door as hard as she could. “C’mon! Wake up! It's an emergency!”

“It is?!” She must've responded no, because he then heard “Iruma-san! That's lying!”

“Well, how else am I supposed to get his lazy ass outta bed?!”

“My system indicates that it's only a little after seven; perhaps we should wait until later?”

“Fuck no! I've already waited four hours, I'm tired of waiting!”

 

She resumed pounding, and Shuichi groaned, reluctantly rolling out of bed. He knew she was too determined to give up, so the faster he listened to what she wanted, the faster he could go back to sleep. “I'm opening the door, please don't slam it in my face,” he called out, voice croaking from dryness. He waited until Iruma ceased pounding to cautiously open his door.

And then he blinked. At Iruma’s side was a familiar yet unexpected face. “Good morning, Saihara-kun,” Kiibo greeted, politely bowing at the waist, “Sorry to wake you, but Iruma-san was very excited to let you all know that I arrived safely.”

“Ah... Okay?”

 

His confusion must've been clear, as Kiibo frowned and turned to Iruma. “You told them I was coming, right?”

“Of course not,” she responded with a smile, “It was a surprise!”

“Iruma-san...” He sighed, then turned back to Shuichi. “I apologize. I suppose I should explain, then. I managed to convince the professor to allow me to transfer here, and arrived at approximately 11pm last night. I was then escorted here and arrived shortly after 3am, and I’ve been waiting with Iruma-san since.”

His brain slowly processed the information. Ah, so was Kiibo the new dormer Harukawa went to pick up? “So you’re living here in the dorm, then?”

He nodded. “Exactly! In fact, my room is right across the hall!” He pointed to the room opposite Shuichi’s.

“And it’s right below mine!” Iruma added, and in her usual manner made it weird with, “Don’t worry if you hear any weird sounds, Kiibo, that just means I’m having the time of my life! You, you can always come check on me, though; I wouldn’t mind being joined..!”

 

Kiibo hesitantly paused. “Er, all right..?” He looked to Shuichi questioningly, but he only could shake his head in response. “Well, then, shall we wake the others up?”

Iruma clicked her tongue. “Momotard’s out cold, Kaede needs her rest, there’s no point in waking Chabashita, and why the fuck’d you wanna wake Whore-kawa?”

“To introduce myself?”

“You forgot Shinguuji-kun,” Shuichi pointed out.

She wrinkled her nose in disgust. “That weird fuck’s not even a member of our team.”

“But he’s still a resident of the dorm, so Kiibo-kun should meet him, right?”

The robot in question nodded approvingly. “I think meeting everyone is very important.”

“Both of you are fucking nerds,” Iruma snorted, but corralled the two downstairs, where she claimed Shinguuji to be.

 

They found him sitting in front of the TV, tapping his pen against against his masked mouth. In his lap was a journal that Shuichi was familiar with; it was the one that he used to keep track of Apathy Syndrome cases.

“Good morning, Shinguuji-kun,” he greeted, “Did some of the victims recover?”

He looked over, eyes creasing as he smiled at them. “Greetings, Saihara-kun. A handful have so far this morning, yes.” He politely turned the TV off and set his notebook aside. “Who might this new friend of yours be?”

Kiibo bowed at the waist, cap nearly falling off his head from the depth of the bow. “I am Iidabashi Kiibo, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Shinguuji-san!”

Shinguuji looked amused at the vigor of his introduction. “Please, ‘kun’ is adequate. If I do recall, you are the robot companion from Novoselic, correct?”

Kiibo paused. “Oh. Yes, I am.” He glanced to Shuichi. “So you told them about me?”

 

Shuichi sweated, stomach twisting. “Ah, um, yes? Was, was I not supposed to?”

He shook his head. “It’s fine, I suppose it makes sense for my future dormmates to know. It’s just... nice. When others see me as human, I mean.”

He bit his lip. “Sorry. I mean, I wasn’t sure if you were joining us, so...”

Kiibo raised a hand. “Please, no, it’s really fine. I’m not upset.” He looked back to Shinguuji. “So, from what Iruma-san said, I assume you don’t have the potential?”

“That is correct.” Shinguuji chucked. “I merely record the progress of their exploration, word of mouth as my only tool. Not that I find problem with that; I’ve derived much enjoyment in creating this Shadow encyclopedia from their descriptions.”

 

“A Shadow encyclopedia?” Kiibo questioned, looking interested as he sat down next to him on the couch and pulled his cap off.

“Yes, I compile information such as how they attack, various ways of defeating them, what floors they’ve been seen on.” He paused, tilting his head towards Shuichi. “If you’re free for a while, Saihara-kun, we can add last night’s encounter right now. The Chariot and Justice, correct?”

As Shuichi nodded, Kiibo tilted his head, confused. “What are those? Shadows?”

“Indeed they are. There exist large Shadows that appear when the moon is fullest. We - or the others, I suppose - have made it their goal to seek them out and destroy them.” He adjusted his mask as he reached over and pulled out the encyclopedia journal from his bag. “I believe this would also be an opportune time to familiarize our newest addition with the various Shadows.”

 

Kiibo straightened up. “I have very little experience with Shadows, so I would much appreciate that!” He shot Shuichi a hopeful look.

“Sure, that sounds fine,” he agreed, joining the two of them on the couch. As he did so, Iruma huffed, crossing her arms and muttering darkly under her breath as she checked her phone. Shuichi thought of asking her if she wanted to join as well, but she turned and went back upstairs shortly after without any farewell. He watched her, puzzled, but shrugged it off.

 

* * *

**6:43pm**

Harukawa didn’t leave her room until late in the evening, and even then she refused to be interrupted while she was cooking dinner. Shuichi’s attempts at starting a conversation were ignored; was she still mad about his weak interrogation the night before?

“Hey, Shuichi,” Momota started, leaning towards him at the table, “Did you upset Harumaki?” So even he noticed that she was giving him the silent treatment. Great. That was just great.

“I didn’t mean to, I, um, just tried to ask her some questions last night...” He ducked his head, and Momota frowned.

“Really? Well, you should apologize at training tonight! Can’t have my sidekicks fighting!”

“Training?” Kiibo questioned, lowering his hands from were they hovered over whatever amalgam of food Iruma and Momota had teamed up to feed him (did he even eat?)

Momota puffed up. “Yeah, me, Shuichi, and Harumaki train every Tuesday and Thursday after dinner to keep ourselves in shape!”

“Akamatsu-san is joining us too,” he added, then paused, looking to her, “Right?”

She nodded. “I still want to, yes.”

 

She then paused, drumming her fingers on the table. “But I think we hold off on training tonight. We need to talk about what happened last night.” Momota opened his mouth to object, but she continued. “Not just about you, Momota-kun.”

He closed his mouth and shrugged. Shuichi had to agree with her, so he didn’t have any objections either. The only one that seemed ready to speak up was Kiibo, but that was probably just because he was confused.

But before he could say anything, Chabashira decided it was a good time to engage him in conversation. “So, Kiibo-san, I’ve been wondering. If you’re a robot, are you a girl or a degenerate male?”

“Er, degenerate..?” Kiibo faltered, but then retorted with, “Your question seems very robophobic, but I’ll answer. To be honest, the professor did not create me with a sex nor gender, but I do not mind being referred to as male.”

“What?!” Iruma shouted, hopping up from her seat and slamming her hands on the table, “Does that mean you don’t have a dick?!”

Kiibo looked scandalized at her question. “What?! Of course not!”

“Awww, fuck! That’s gotta change! Don’t worry, I’ll help you!”

“Iruma-san, no! You’ll turn him into a real degenerate! At least like this he’s  _ almost _ okay!”

 

Just as Shuichi was wondering what that meant for him, the sink turning on caught his attention. “Quiet down,” Harukawa ordered, washing her hands off, “Don’t harass him, Iruma, Chabashira.” The two shrunk at her scolding, and dinner proceeded without any further interruptions. Well, aside from a brief debate about who was going to eat Kiibo’s meal when he couldn’t.

Somehow, they managed to force it upon Shuichi. He very much regretted resigning to eating it as they made their way up to the meeting room.

 

“So, what’s the report for last night?” Harukawa began, eyeing Iruma’s setup, “Iruma told me you defeated two Shadows when I returned, but nothing else.”

“We found the Chariot and Justice Shadows north of here, underground in the abandoned residential area,” Akamatsu elaborated, “It was a, um, tank.” Her eyes flickered to Iruma and Shuichi, as if asking them to add on to her description.

“Yeah, it was wearing old military shit like it was dressing up to go to a fetish convention,” Iruma helpfully contributed, before actually adding to the conversation with, “The two of them were possessing the tank, probably like how that bitch Priestess took over the monorail.”

Shuichi nodded in agreement. “They seemed to fire real bullets as well, but thankfully none of us got anything more than nicks.” He paused, licking his lips. “But, well, um, Momota-kun...” His voice shook as he trailed off.

 

Momota crossed his arms. “Right, I guess I should let you guys know that I’ve awakened to a new power!” From the tone of his voice, it was obvious he was unashamed that he’d thrown himself straight into danger.

Harukawa raised a brow. “Oh really?”

“Yeah really! A shield!” He grinned proudly.

Harukawa’s normally stoic expression furrowed. “A shield? That’s... odd.”

“Odd?” Shuichi echoed.

She was silent for a long moment. “I just didn’t expect that. Momota’s... well, Momota.”

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“She has a point, you know,” Chabashira said, “You’re just a dumb reckless boy.”

“A dumb reckless guy who protects people!” Momota objected?

 

“So you wield a shield now?” Kiibo politely questioned. “That’s a funny, I happened to work on my own defensive capabilities since we last met.”

Momota gaped. “Hey! Are you trying to one-up my achievement?!”

“Oh!” He raised his hands in alarm. “No, of course not! I apologize, I just-”

“It’s alright, Kiibo-kun, ignore him,” Akamatsu interrupted. Then, to get the conversation back on track, she turned to Momota and continued with, “Anyway, you still shouldn’t have acted so recklessly. I know you were just trying to protect Ouma-kun, but-”

“Ouma was there?” Harukawa stiffly asked. There was an awkward silence, no one wanting to be the one to confirm her accidental mention.

 

So, Kiibo ended up being the one to break it. “Who is ‘Ouma-kun’?”

“A little bitch!” Iruma answered with a smile almost wide enough to challenge the boy in question’s own. “Harukawa’s got a hard-on for hating his ass, even when he was a huge help the past three full moons. I mean, he basically defeated the Justice Shadow by himself.”

As Momota shouted “I helped!”, Harukawa’s fists clenched. “So he fought them with you?”

“Yeah? So what?” Momota answered, confusion knitting his eyebrows. When she didn’t answer him, a hand twitching at her side as she searched for some sort of answer, he continued. “I know you don’t really like him - hell, I think he’s kinda annoying myself - but he actually really did help. He lead us to the Shadow’s location and, as Iruma said, he helped take down one of them.”

She pursed her lips. “He’s still... You shouldn’t...” She paused, and the stiffness in her body released as she sighed. “Whatever. Anything else to report?”

 

Shuichi hated to prolong the Ouma discussion, but... “There was something else that happened with Ouma-kun. There were these two girls we ran into that knew him. And, and you. Yonaga Angie and Shirogane Tsumugi?”

“Who? What do they look like?”

“Ah, um, blonde, dark skin, um, and, and kinda, um, mid length blue hair?” He bit his lip. “Ouma-kun said something about a cult..?”

She frowned and crossed her arms, eyes closing for a moment. After a few long seconds of silence, she responded. “Oh, them. They’re not a threat. They’re weird and annoying, but all they do is preach about pacifism. I just ignore them.”

Shuichi relaxed. “Oh, okay, that’s good to hear. They said that too, but, well...” He thought back to what Angie had said. “They were just... really creepy.”

 

Shinguuji, who’d been silently observing their discussion, suddenly chuckled. “How interesting. A cult, you say? I believe speaking with them would be relevant to my interests; we’d have much to discuss. If you see them again, feel free to inform me.”

“Ah, sure-”

“Leave them be,” Harukawa interrupted, “We don’t need people like them lingering around; they’d just distract you all from the mission at hand.”

Shuichi frowned. “Which is..?”

She gave him a hard look, before averting her eyes. “Preparing for the next full moon, of course. The Shadows seem to be getting stronger, and if Momota’s falling back to support, the rest of us will have to work harder to make up for losing half of our front line.”

“Hey, I’m not leaving the front line,” Momota objected, “I’m just, uh, also providing defense on top of fighting Shadows.”

 

_ “Still.” _ She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Regardless, we need to get Kiibo - who’s never fought Shadows, remember - caught up with the rest of us. From now on, we’ll be visiting Tartarus once a week: Saturday or Sunday nights, depending on everyone’s schedule. Is that acceptable?” Her gaze swept over the group, landing on Akamatsu.

“That sounds fine to me.” She nodded in agreement.

“Good. Meeting over.” With a quiet huff, Harukawa wasted no time shutting down the meeting and heading off. Shuichi blinked, trying to decide if she was upset or not.

 

Meanwhile, Iruma let out an over-exaggerated yawn. “Alright, this beauty’s gotta get some shut-eye; I gotta be hyped up and ready to take Keebs out and about tomorrow.”

Kiibo brightened. “Oh, is this the promised tour?”

“Hell yeah!” She stretched her legs out, boots on the coffee table. “And Shithara, make sure you’re up and ready this time; I don’t wanna have to resort to kicking it down again.”

Shuichi sweated; oh boy, this was going to be fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the unannounced week off last week (school), and also happy birthday Miu I love you
> 
> (Also this hit 100k words! Nice!)


	45. The Tour

**August 9, 201X - 7:00am**

At 7 on the dot again, Iruma started pounding on his door. Shuichi sighed, running his hand through his hair one last time before going to answer. Since she’d been so punctual the day before, it looked like he assumed correctly that she’d wake him up at the same time.

“I’m awake,” he called out, before opening the door.

Iruma looked smug as she lowered her hand to her waist. “That was fast; were you waiting to see my gorgeous face? I wouldn’t’ve minded if you needed some time to get a quick one in.”

He ignored her comment. “You said to be up and ready.” His eyes scanned the hallway. “Is Kiibo-kun up?”

“Yeah, downstairs. He doesn’t sleep either, so we’ve been waiting on your ass to get up.”

 

Shuichi didn’t point out that she had actually slept at some point in the past day, even if it hadn’t been overnight, and instead followed her downstairs. After a brief exchange with Kiibo, and Shuichi getting breakfast, the three of them headed out.

“I downloaded a map of the local area last night in preparation for today,” Kiibo eagerly reported as they walked towards the station. “I am looking forward to seeing the many locations in person; where are we off to first?”

“The mall,” Shuichi answered, at the same time as Iruma answered, “The school!” She shot him a look, and he averted his gaze and reanswered, “The school, then the mall.”

 

Kiibo didn’t appear to acknowledge the brief discrepancy between their answers, face practically glowing with excitement. “Oh, I was looking forward to touring the school!” He paused. “It’s closed for the summer though, right?”

“It’s open for the sports teams, but it  _ is _ summer vacation right now, yes.” Shuichi’s phone buzzed in his pocket, and he resisted the urge to check it as he continued explaining, “I’m sure they won’t mind us showing you around the school, as long as we don’t cause trouble or get in the way of the practice.” Not that he was worried about himself or Kiibo causing problems.

Regardless- “Of course! I’ll be on my best behavior!”

“Kiibo is such a good boy,” Iruma cooed in a patronizing way, not that he picked up on that. Somehow, having Kiibo around made Shuichi feel better for every social failure in his life.

 

Kiibo’s face was glued to the window as they rode the monorail over, attracting some negative looks from the other riders at his odd behavior. Though Shuichi was sure that Kiibo wasn’t the only reason; Iruma always got odd looks from her clothing choice, loudness, and distinctly not-Japanese appearance. Kiibo’s own clothing choice didn’t help either, since it was August, the hottest month of the year. Shuichi wasn’t sure how heatproof Iidabashi made Kiibo, but hopefully it was enough to withstand wearing a winter uniform in this humidity.

“Oh! That’s it, right?!” He excitedly pointed towards the school as it came into view. Shuichi followed his gaze with a smile, reminiscing when he first came to the school in April. Was that really four months ago? It felt like so much longer.

“You’re such a nerd; if you’re gonna get a boner just from seeing the school, how’re you gonna handle attending every day?” Iruma laughed, patting Kiibo’s back; Shuichi thought said pat didn’t sound quite normal, but thankfully no one else noticed over their horror at her vulgar language.

 

They reached the school a bit after 8 and immediately ran into Toujou as she was opening up the school. Shuichi thought he saw surprise in her pleasant expression as she greeted them. “Good morning, Saihara-kun, Iruma-san.” She tilted her head inquisitively. “Here to help Hoshi-kun again? Or is there something else I can help you with?”

“Ah, well, you see-” Shuichi began, but was elbowed in the side by Iruma.

“Fuck off, milf! I’m giving my hot new beta boytoy a tour, and I won’t let you and your sagging tits get in my way!”

Toujou’s pleasant smile went flat, and the look and soft sigh she gave Iruma could only be described as “disappointed”. Kiibo looked ready to apologize for Iruma’s rudeness, but Shuichi placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him; Toujou could handle this.

 

The look was effective surprisingly quickly; Iruma shrivelled, as anyone would under the weight of such disappointment. “Heee! I’m, I’m sorry, it, it was just a joke...”

“Please mind the words you choose in the future,” she responded calmly, before turning back to Shuichi. “So, who is your new friend?”

He nodded. “This is Iidabashi Kiibo. He’ll be transferring in next term. Um, Iruma-san was excited to show him around the school, so... Yeah. Sorry for the trouble, Toujou-senpai.” He removed his hand from Kiibo’s shoulder, scratching at his arm.

Kiibo bowed deeply. “It’s a pleasure to meet you! I hope we get along!”

 

The tour of the school went smoothly after that and soon they were off to their next destination, though not before passing by Momota on their way out; it was good that he wasn’t skipping tennis practice anymore.

They headed towards the Moonlight Bridge after a brief tour of Paulownia Mall, the justification being that the bridge was their main path between Tartarus and the dorm. As they crossed it, Kiibo’s head was stuck craning up towards the sky in awe.

“I’ve never seen such a tall bridge!” He exclaimed, grabbing at his cap as it nearly slipped off his head.

“If you think this is tall, you’re gonna bust a nut when you see Tartarus!”

He paused, looking back down. “Oh, I think I saw that off in the distance last night. It definitely was tall; I can only imagine what it’s like to be at the base.”

Iruma snickered, and in anticipation of another dirty joke, Shuichi interrupted. “It’s pretty overwhelming, yeah. But you get used to it after awhile.”

 

They continued on in silence for a few minutes, the end of the bridge drawing near. In the corner of his eye, Kiibo placed a hand to his chin. “Maybe this is random, but... I’ve been wondering something since last night. Why does Harukawa-senpai dislike this Ouma-kun so much?”

A topic that still eluded Shuichi himself. He shook his head. “I’ve been wondering that myself, honestly. She says she thinks he's dangerous, but... Do you have any idea, Iruma-san?” Ouma was always claiming her to be his bestie, after all.

She scoffed. “We don’t talk about serious shit like that.”

“What do you talk about, then?” Kiibo asked.

“Uhhh...” She pulled out her phone, presumably to check her texts. “‘How big do you think Neo Featherman Purple’s dick is? Asking for a friend.’” When the two of them stuttered incoherently, she laughed. “By the way, my response to that was ‘obviously below average, but for your tight ass that’s more than enough-’”

 

“Iruma-san, I think that’s enough!” Kiibo interrupted, face bright red. “How about you find a conversation not about, about anything like  _ that.” _

She pouted, but started scrolling through her texts again.

...

......

After a minute passed, Shuichi spoke up. “Can... Can you not find anything?”

“Shut up!” She yelled, “Of course I fucking can! But, uh, it’s private! Whatever! It’s not like you’d wanna know we talk about who has the best ass in the dorm!”

“You just told us anyway,” Kiibo pointed out, while Shuichi just shook his head. Kiibo sighed. “I feel the need to purify my brain now, regardless. How about we visit the Naganaki Shrine? According to my map, that’s nearby.”

Iruma tsked. “Brain? And religion is for suckers, you know that right?”

“I find the notion that because I’m a robot I can’t be religious very robophobic.”

“I don’t think that’s what she meant, Kiibo-kun.”

 

Despite her whining, they made their way over to the shrine. As they climbed the stairs, Shuichi’s stomach started to feel empty, the walking burning away the empty calories he’d had for breakfast. Maybe they could stop by the strip mall for lunch afterward? Ah, but would it be awkward to eat with Kiibo there? Shuichi chewed at his lip in thought, and almost bumped into said robot when he stopped at the top of the stairs.

“Ah, what a peaceful place! It’s like my battery is being recharged, just standing here.” He placed his hands on his hips, looking pleased. “You know, it’s always been a dream of mine to live in Japan, especially a traditional building like this! Wearing a yukata and drinking tea while watching the cherry blossoms fall... I’m glad I’ll finally be able to experience that!”

“You’ll be waiting a while for that; it’s nowhere near spring anymore,” Shuichi stated, before movement around the shrine caught his attention.

 

Following his gaze, Kiibo perked up. “Oh, that must be the priest! Let’s introduce ourselves!” Before Shuichi could correct his assumption, Kiibo marched over to the towering form of Gonta, who was clumsily sweeping the area in front of the shrine. “Good morning!”

He started, owlishly blinking down at Kiibo. Then, he smiled.  “Oh! Good morning! Can Gonta help you?”

“I’m here to visit the shrine,” he proudly responded as Shuichi hurried over, Iruma in tow.

“Okay, Gonta can- Oh! Saihara-kun!” Spotting him, Gonta perked up further. “Hello! You bring friends to see Gonta?” Well, he hadn’t specifically come to visit him, but Shuichi certainly couldn’t say that.

“You friends with big dick over here?” Iruma asked with a grin.

“Yes?” Shuichi answered uncertainly. “We’ve, um, met before.”

 

Shuichi quickly introduced the two to him, while hoping in the back of his mind that no bugs would be involved this time. Thankfully, Kiibo eagerly jumping to discuss the shrine and Japanese culture steered the topic in a strict direction.

“What are they even talking about?” Iruma stage-whispered to Shuichi.

“The history of Shintoism, I think. Well, Kiibo-kun is, at least.” Gonta appeared to be listening intensely, only occasionally adding his own knowledge. “I’m surprised you don’t know; there were a few questions about it on the final.”

“Oh, I BS-ed most of the test,” she proudly admitted, “Honestly, my high grade is from math and physics and shit. The rest I just crammed the night before and promptly discarded afterward.”

“That doesn’t sound like something a top student should be doing...”

“Fuck off, I barely had enough time to do even that. Besides, do you have the right to nag me about my study habits when you let Miss I-Almost-Flunked boss you around?”

 

Shuichi blinked. “Are you talking about Harukawa-san?”

“Uh, duh! Her grade was wayyyy below average. Like there’s not giving a fuck, and there’s giving up on school entirely.” Her expression flattened into a frown. “Believe me, I know.”

Something rang familiar in her words. “Oh right, didn’t you almost flunk too?”

She flinched. “You, you gotta say it so casually? It, it was a rough time in my life, alright? I was still dealing with all the changes that happened after the accident.”

“Ah, sorry.” He nervously licked his lips. “Um, so, are you saying something might be going on with Harukawa-san? Because, um, that’s not exactly news...”

“Oh don’t be a smartass.” She playfully(?) nudged his shoulder. “But yeah, either that or she’s just dumb. Neither’d be a surprise!”

 

“Sorry to interrupt, but-” Kiibo turned to them. “-did you know that there’s going to be a festival soon?”

Shuichi paused, processing the change in topic before nodding. “Oh, yes. The summer festival. What about it?”

“Gonta was telling Iidabashi-kun that Gonta will be helping with the festival here!” He placed a hand on Kiibo’s shoulder, emphasizing the large height difference between them. “Gonta hopes you will come?”

The summer festival could be a nice time to unwind from everything. “I’ll try to come,” he answered, eyes flickering to Iruma.

She shrugged. “Sure, whatever. I’m sure Kaede’ll want to come. The 20th, right? Make sure you don’t schedule a trip to Tartarus.”

 

“Tartarus?” Gonta slowly echoed. Panic fluttered in Shuichi’s chest.

“Ah, it’s, it’s nothing.” He pulled out his phone, pretending to be checking the time; ah, speaking of Akamatsu, there was a text from her asking to meet up at Bookworms later. “Well, um, we should be going. It was nice seeing you though, Gonta-kun.”

His face fell. “Oh, I see. Have a good day!” His lips slowly turned back up into a smile, but it seemed forced. “Come visit Gonta any time.”

“Of course! I will come again later!” Kiibo exclaimed, and the smile became more genuine. Shuichi made a mental note to visit more often as well; Gonta seemed very lonely.

 

“Anyone ever tell you your lips are looser than a cocksucker’s?” Iruma scolded as they walked down the shrine steps.

“Not with those exact words, no.” To avoid more of her weird phrasings, he changed the topic. “Anyway, Akamatsu-san suggested we meet up at Bookworms to start on our summer homework.”

“Ughhhhh, fuck no! I can do it the night before we go back; I have other places I wanna show Keebs!”

“What’s Bookworms?” Kiibo asked, but before Shuichi could answer he continued. “Oh, is that the bookstore in the Iwatodai Strip Mall? I think that sounds like a place I’d like to see.” He turned to Iruma. “Can we stop by there, Iruma-san?”

“Again, you’re a huge fucking nerd. But fiiiine. One of you has to go into Wild Duck Burger and get me a sandwich though.”

 

A pit stop at said fast food joint later, the three of them wandered into the bookstore. Miku rose from her seat with Akamatsu to greet them, her eyes glowing bright with joy. “Oh, it’s Miu-chan! It’s so good to see you, dear. Is this the new friend Kaede-chan was telling me about?”

Shuichi blinked in surprise as Iruma shriveled up, hands linking together at her chest as her posture went slack, as if she was trying to make herself smaller. “Y-Yeah, um, this, this is Kiibo.”

“It’s nice to meet you!” He once again bowed as deeply as he could, causing Miku to laugh.

“What a polite young man. Come, sit.” She ushered them over to the table, even roping in Iruma who didn’t want to stay and work on their assignments for school. “You just moved here, isn’t that right? If you need any help, you just find us and we’ll get you where you need to be going.” Miku patted Kiibo on the head affectionately, continuing to ramble on as the robot flushed. “And of course Miu-chan, Kaede-chan, and Shuichi-kun will be more than happy to help you as well.”

“R-Right,” Iruma mumbled out, hiding behind one of their textbooks. Akamastu reached over and gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze.

“Oh, well, in that case...” Kiibo relaxed, and began to ask whatever came to mind as Shuichi reluctantly started his school work.  _ Lucky Kiibo. _


	46. Call Me

**August 10, 201X - 7:02pm**

“Do you really have to stare?”

Chabashira ignored Shuichi’s question, continuing to bore holes into him and Momota. For some reason, when they’d gone out to start their training with Harukawa and Akamatsu, she’d followed close behind.

“... Do you want to join?” Shuichi tried again.

“Ngh... No. I’m just... watching out for Kaede-san and Harukawa-san.” That was probably a yes, then, but Shuichi dropped it, knowing there was no point in trying to argue with her. If she was going to be convinced that it was okay to join, it’d have to come from one of the two girls. He assumed it would probably be Harukawa, with how quick she was to put Akamatsu to work when she wanted to join too.

 

“C’mon, Shuichi, let’s get moving,” Momota encouraged, nudging him along into jogging. He obeyed, matching his pace as they started their training. To make up for not training on Tuesday, Momota decided that the were going to double their work tonight. Four laps, 100 sit-ups and push-ups.

Shuichi was going to be so sore in the morning.

 

One lap in, Akamatsu fell back from attempting to keep up with Harukawa to join them, out of breath. “I tried, guys. You’ll have to carry on for me. Win the race.” She made a pain noise like she was pretending to die, but it sounded very real.

“You couldn’t pay me to race Harukawa-san,” Shuichi laughed. She was already a whole lap and a half ahead of them, after all.

“C’mon, Shuichi! I bet you could do it!” Momota shot him a thumbs up, but it wasn’t very convincing when he was dripping sweat already, strands of his hair falling in his face. Not that Shuichi could judge; it was still humid beyond belief, and his own clothing was damp with sweat even though they’d only been outside for about ten minutes.

“No thanks. How about you try, Momota-kun?”

He stammered. “Uh, well, I wouldn’t wanna one-up either of you. You know. Something like that.” He chuckled, averting his eyes. Shuichi rolled his own in amusement.

 

Lap three, Momota spoke up again. “You know, I was thinking something.”

“Oh?”

“We’re all best friends, right?” When Shuichi nodded, Akamatsu doing the same a short distance behind them, he continued. “Well, I was thinking that since I call you ‘Shuichi’, you should call me ‘Kaito’, yeah?”

Shuichi’s mind stuttered. “... Huh?”

“I mean, maybe I misheard, but...” He wiped some sweat off his face. “I thought I heard you call me ‘Kaito’ when we were fighting the Shadows the other night. So, uh, if you wanted permission to use my given name, you have it.”

Shuichi wasn’t sure if his face was burning from the exercise, the heat, or the embarrassment; maybe a mixture of the three? “Um, well, if, if you insist... Kaito.” He nervously tacked on when Momota- Kaito gave him an expectant look, eyes gleaming.

“Great! It’s settled then!” He gave him a rough pat on the back, causing Shuichi to stumble as he almost tripped.

 

“Be careful, Momota-kun,” Akamatsu scolded, then paused. “Oh, was that extended to me too? Because I don’t mind if you both call me ‘Kaede’.”

Kaito hesitated, looking contemplative. “Uh, well, I don’t mind. Shuichi?”

“I don’t know if my heart can handle that,” he wheezed, completely out of breath, “But if that’s what you want...”

“Are you bullying Saihara?” Harukawa questioned, slowing to their speed as she started to lap them. Even though Shuichi was sure she’d already finished four laps.

“Course not! We’re official- officializing our best friendship!”

“It was a joke. Anyway, Chabashira’s sitting on the steps looking like a lost puppy, any idea why?” Even after knowing Harukawa for months, the lack of upward inflection in her questions always made Shuichi nervous, like she was demanding they answer, that they  _ know _ the answer.

“I think she wants to join us, but is too embarrassed to ask,” flew from his lips before either of the other two could respond. Harukawa nodded, and to his relief sped back up.

 

“Man, if Chabashira joins us, training’s gonna get crowded,” Kaito laughed. “And to think, this all started as a way to whip you into shape, huh Shuichi?”

“R-Right.”

“It’ll be nice, though,” Akamatsu- Kaede(?) added. “Maybe it’ll help bring us all closer together; I know things have been a bit tense between you and her, Momo- ah, Kaito-kun.”

“Yeah, uh, well...” Kaito shrugged. “I don’t think she’s making progress on her guy-hating thing, but I try to get along with her. When she’s not poking fun at me and all.”

 

They rounded the corner to see Harukawa stopped in front of the girl in question. From the distance still between them, they couldn’t make out what she said, but Shuichi assumed it was questioning her and then giving her permission to join them when Chabashira darted off. As they approached, Harukawa silently watched her disappear around the opposite corner.

“She’s so weird,” she sighed as they slowed to a halt. “Why make such a big deal about exercising?” Shuichi could think of some reasons, but he decided not to answer. When Harukawa realized they’d stopped, she turned to them. “What are you doing? Don’t you have another lap to do still?” They hurried off again, Shuichi’s body protesting already.

 

The sit-ups and push-ups were torturous. Exercising hadn’t felt this bad since he first started, but he supposed it was about time they started pushing harder, since he was getting used to the usual routine. At least Kaede was getting let off easy when she had to stop shortly into their sit-ups, Harukawa conveniently overlooking her lying in the grass next to her, completely breathless.

“So, got any plans for next week?” Kaito asked in-between sit-ups, grunting quietly. “I gotta go out of town for tennis stuff all of Monday into Tuesday, but I’ll be back before dinner so training’s still on.”

“Tenko’s grades weren’t good enough for her parents, so I have to go to summer school,” Chabashira grumbled.

“Damn, that sucks. Good luck with that.” He paused, then tilted his head towards the other girls. “What about you, Harumaki?”

She paused her sit-ups. “... Yeah, same here. My... guardians, I guess you could put it, said they needed me to pull my grades up higher or something.” She sighed. “They’re probably just upset I’m making them look bad.”

“Ah, same as Tenko?! Maybe it won’t be so bad if Harukawa-san is there...”

 

“You got this, Harumaki! Don’t worry about what they think!” Kaito encouraged, sitting up more to reach over and pat her shoulder.

She flinched away. “Don’t touch me. And stop calling me that.” Kaito frowned and pulled his hand back, scratching at his head.

“Aw, is everyone going to be busy next week?” Kaede pouted, craning her neck to look at Shuichi. “Shuichi-kun, you’re not busy, right?”

While Chabashira gaped at her addressing him by his given name, he nervously nodded. “I’m, I’m free. Well, as far as I know.”

She hummed. “We need something to do... Oh! How about I teach you to play the piano?” He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but that wasn’t a surprise at all.

But he had no reason to disagree, so... “Okay, sure.”

 

While Chabashira whined, wishing it was her that Kaede was teaching, said girl continued to muse about the upcoming piano class. “I need to find all my beginner books, and maybe look up some videos, oh and if the others aren’t busy we could invite them too-” As her mumbling decreased in volume, Shuichi exchanged a glance with Kaito, who gave him a grin before returning to his sit-ups.

Ah, right. Back to that, then.

 

* * *

**August 11, 201X - 11:49am**

Shuichi stared at the unanswered text from days beforehand. He let himself fall back in his bed, a heavy sigh escaping his lips. He just wanted answers. But honestly, at this point he would accept not getting answers, if it just meant that he could get some sort of response from Ouma. There was so much he wanted to talk with him about in regards to what had happened on the recent full moon, but it seemed that the other wasn’t interested in meeting up at the moment, if the almost three day old text asking when they could meet was anything to go by, followed by the one he sent the night prior.

 

Shuichi’s lips twitched, and with a frustrated huff he switched to his phone app. If he wouldn’t answer his texts, maybe he’d answer his phone? His fingers shakily typed in his number, double checking, triple checking, hovering over the call button for a long minute before he forced himself to press it, bringing the phone to his ear as the dial tone rang. And rang. And rang.

Finally, it stopped, only to play a generic voicemail. His shoulders released, the tension and anxiety seeping away as he hung up, not having the energy to leave a voicemail. All that stress for nothing. Knowing Ouma, he’d show himself eventually, when it was convenient for him.

 

He switched to his browser, going back to his various tabs full of news sites covering Hope’s Peak. It was hard to find any hint of negative news, most stories covering the recent expansions, sport tournaments, and the successes of various graduates throughout the years it’d been open. Most of them were useless, since the Dark Hour had started sometime “two or three” years ago. It’d be nice if he could get a solid answer on  _ when. _

The closest he got to  _ maybe _ finding an answer was an article written almost a decade prior, a job listing for psychologists interested in working in an unspecified study. Something about the wording of the listing made him uneasy, a gut feeling that it was somehow related. He just didn’t know  _ how. _

 

With a groan, he let his hand holding his phone fall, landing on the bed with a soft thud. He immediately regretted it when just as he closed his eyes to think, it buzzed in his hand. Someone was calling him. He shot up, finger slamming on the answer before he could miss it.

“H-Hello, Saihara Shuichi,” he stammered out as he scrambled to get the phone up to his ear.

“Hello, Shuichi,” the gruff voice of his uncle greeted him. “I’m sorry it’s taken so long to return your call.”

He relaxed again. “Oh, um, it’s okay. Did your case go well?”

“As well as infidelity can go,” he grunted. “What about yours? You enjoy, uh, Novoselic, was it?”

Shuichi paused, trying to determine how to answer. His uncle didn’t know. He didn’t know what cover story Iidabashi gave Novoselic. “It, um, it went really well, actually. I’ll have to tell you about it sometime.” He decided a vague answer was best, quickly changing topics. “Case aside, though, we had a lot of fun. You were right about it being a good experience.”

“Good, good.”

 

There was a long pause, before his uncle spoke again. “Well, I imagine you called me for a reason. Is everything alright?”

Shuichi swallowed. “Well, actually, your timing was good. I’ve... I heard some weird things about... about Hope’s Peak, and, and I’ve been trying to look into it, but...”

“Weird things?” Shuichi could imagine the furrow of his brows as he echoed him questioningly.

“Um, well, I heard from a friend that, that there was, um, some sort of research they were doing a few years ago? But I can’t find anything about it.”

His uncle hummed thoughtfully. “Well, school institutions often do research, so I wouldn’t say that’s odd.” Shuichi’s stomach dropped as he paused. “... If it’s bothering you enough to call me, though, I’ll trust your judgment.”

Shuichi sighed in relief. “So can you try to dig something up? Anything that seems related will hopefully help.”

“Sure, we’ll consider it a reward for your high scores this past term,” he chuckled, and the conversation winded down into more casual topics until his uncle had to take another call.

 

Well, it was progress, at least.

 

* * *

[11:09pm] Ouma: sooooooo sorry shu-chan TTATT i am BOOKED

[11:10pm] Ouma: so busy. will meet w u when i have time :’(

[11:11pm] Ouma: make a wish! wish to meet me soon! ;O

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to take a moment and thank everyone that's read and commented since I started this. One year ago today, I started writing chapter 1, and 105 thousand words later here we are. I'm insanely proud of how far I've come with this story, and I look forward to the future chapters eagerly.
> 
> I also want to take a moment to note that there was a nice fanwork based on my au written, and I think it's worth a read. It's not canon to this, but I enjoyed it a lot: [Starlight behind the Moonlight](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16892472)


	47. Modification

**August 12, 201X - 10:32pm**

“Oh, I see.” Kiibo nodded understandingly to something Shinguuji said. “That sounds a lot like the information I have on hand as well.”

“Is that so? In that case, might you listen to the theory I have begun to develop?”

“Of course!” He leaned forward eagerly, and in doing so he noticed Shuichi standing in the middle of the second floor hallway, on his way to the bathroom. “Oh, Saihara-kun! Would you like to join us? Shinguuji-kun has some very interesting ideas about Titania - the Demon, remember?”

Shuichi hesitated, before figuring a few minutes wouldn’t hurt. “Okay, sure.” He nodded and joined the two at the table littered with notebooks and papers, a laptop set up for cross-referencing.

 

Shinguuji chuckled. “Not only Titania, but I’ve been delving further into my research of the psyche as well, using the Jungian model as my base.” He paused. “Perhaps you’ve heard of Carl Jung, Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist? His ideas are still very influential in modern psychology.”

“I’ve heard of him, but I wouldn’t say I’m an expert. I wouldn’t mind a refresher.” Shuichi answered, noting that Shinguuji looked pleased at his response.

“Very well, I will be brief; Jung works with the human consciousness, personal and collective, conscious and unconscious. In fact, it is from him that the title of ‘Shadow’ was christened; in Jungian psychology, those are the darker sides of the human consciousness, the side we all unconsciously hide from ourselves and the world around us. These and other aspects of the psyche all merge together in the collective unconsciousness, which is typically defined as a collection of archetypes that join humanity together from birth.”

Kiibo nodded along, letting out a noise that sounded like a thoughtful hum. “Titania stated that she came from the collective unconsciousness.”

 

“In a way, she’s correct.” Shinguuji shuffled his notes. “Jung attributes mythology to the collective unconsciousness, and as such a figure like Titania, the queen of the fairies, would find herself right at home within it.”

Shuichi frowned.  _ “Is _ she from mythology?”

“As a notable figure in literature, I believe that’s equivalent enough to mythology to suffice. One could say that any figure, fictional or real, could become ingrained in the collective unconsciousness if their presence in society is large enough. They grow beyond their work of origin, and when you say their name, those you speak with have at the very least a vague recognition of them.”

“I see.” Shuichi brought a hand to his mouth, thinking. “And how do they leave the collective unconsciousness..?”

He adjusted his mask. “That, I still am uncertain of. I would hazard a guess it has some relation to the Dark Hour. I additionally am still struggling to determine why Demon is the word used for her kind.”

 

“The question I have-” Kiibo chimed in. “-is who exactly are the ones calling her kind anything in the first place? That implies there’s others interacting with them, right? But there’s not many that can enter the Dark Hour...”

Shuichi counted on his fingers; their group of eight, Ouma, Angie, Shirogane, Iidabashi... “Well, we know there’s at least 12 people that can, so there being more wouldn’t be too odd...”

Shinguuji nodded in agreement. “It’s entirely possible that they’re just not in our local area. But since these Demons are linked to the collective unconsciousness, if one person names them, no matter how far away they may be, all of them are named. The same could be presumed about Shadows. Though I again stress this is largely theoretical.”

He weakly chuckled. “Well, it’s not like we have anything better to go off of.”

 

“It’s so strange,” Kiibo hummed. “The way the professor has talked about Shadows leads me to think that at some point, they existed outside of the Dark Hour. How long have Shadows and Demons been around? Years? Decades? Even longer?”

“Well, Iidabashi-san did say that he’d been working on you for what, 10 years? And he said that he’d been working for Hope’s Peak some time before the Dark Hour formed about three years ago, when they were researching Shadows...”

Kiibo looked at him strangely. “Did the professor say that?”

“Um...” Shuichi panicked, trying to recall the conversation they’d had with him word for word. “I, I think so?”

“... My apologizes, I just thoughts something sounded off in your words. Nevermind.” Before Shuichi could apologize himself and press further, Kiibo turned to Shinguuji again. “Anyway, you said you had some thoughts on the psyche as well?”

 

“Yes, indeed I did. I have been pondering over Momota-kun’s change in weapon and the implications behind that, combined with Harukawa-san’s abilities and what Kiibo-kun has claimed to be able to do. If Shadows arise from the collective unconsciousness, and this potential to fight them exists and is fueled by the psyche, is it possible that it also comes from the collective unconsciousness?”

“If the potential has the same origin as Shadows...” Shuichi mumbled, thinking.

“If so, it very well may be that this whole time, the rest of you have only just begun to awaken to your true powers. A power lurking in the darkest parts of your psyche...” He chuckled. “I hope we discover the method to unlocking it; I am getting excited just thinking about the implications.”

 

If there was more Shinguuji had to say, Shuichi wouldn’t know, as a shout suddenly filled the dorm. “Kiibo, get your shiny ass up here!”

He flinched at Iruma’s tone. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I need to go; I forgot she wanted to see me.” He hurriedly stood, nearly overturning his chair in the process. There was something amusing about watching Kiibo speedwalk towards the stairs; Shuichi felt sort of bad for that.

He checked the time on his phone; a little after 11. “Well, I need to get ready for Tartarus. Let’s talk again later; I’m interested in your theories.” With Shinguuji’s quiet thanks, Shuichi rose and headed downstairs.

 

* * *

**Dark Hour**

“Wow... You were right, Saihara-kun.” Kiibo craned his neck up at the towering form of Tartarus. “It’s so tall- How far up have you gone?” Shuichi hummed as he tried to remember the last floor they’d been on.

“Floor 85,” Iruma answered when it seemed like he wasn’t remembering. “Anyway, let’s get moving! No point in lingering out here like a bunch of awkward virgins!” She excitedly pulled Kiibo by the arm into Tartarus, and the rest of the group followed. As they did, Shuichi noted that Kaito looked fired up, buzzing with a restless energy.

“Are you excited for tonight?” He asked, falling back to stand beside him.

Kaito nodded, grinning. “I’m looking forward to being able to properly test out my new powers.” He rolled his shoulder, picking up speed as they hit the steps up to the main doors.

 

Inside, Iruma had already started harassing Kiibo again, appearing to be attempting to remove his jacket. “C’mon, I told you earlier; all this fabric’s limiting your range of motion!”

“I know, but I, I don’t want to walk around, um, naked.” Kiibo’s volume was so quiet that Shuichi barely caught it from across the room.

“It’s not being naked! You have armored plating covering your wires and shit;  _ that’d _ be naked.” Her voice was as loud as always, only quieter when she grumbled, “Don’t have a dick anyway, so...”

“W-Well, if you’re sure...” Kiibo glanced towards them, then away again, face bright red. “T-Tell them not to watch; I’m embarrassed!”

She turned on them immediately. “Hey, don’t be a buncha fucking voyeurs!” She shooed them with large, sweeping motions of her hands, and they turned around, Harukawa huffing at the hold-up in starting their climb.

 

When undressing Kiibo took longer than a minute, she spoke up. “You know, if this was so important yet time consuming, you should’ve done this back at the dorm.”

“Didn’t have time to, and it’s not like he’d walk over here without clothes anyway,” Iruma retorted, before finally exclaiming, “Finally! Alright, we’re ready!”

They turned back around to see a bashful Kiibo, who didn’t look much different without clothes on. Sure, it was now 100% obvious that he was a robot, from the black metal plating, but his body looked close enough to clothes that it wasn’t awkward.

In fact, once he took it in, Shuichi only had one point of interest. “Um, if I may ask... What’s that on his head?” She’d pulled off his cap, revealing a large antenna-shaped wire - hair? - that he knew hadn’t been there before.

 

And sure enough, Iruma’s grin told him that it was her handiwork before a single word left her mouth. “Oh, you like it? You should; I based it off you!” Before he could ask for clarification, she spoke over him. “Since I can’t communicate with Kiibo like the rest of you losers, I took some shit and messed around with it until it tuned with my powers, then built Kiibo this ahoge so the two of us could have hot radio sex-” Harukawa gave her a stern glare, and she backtracked. “So, so I could provide him with helpful and slightly suggestive analyses..?”

“Iruma-san said it would be troublesome if she had to use my father’s- ah, the professor’s communication device to speak with me while the rest of you could be accessed telepathically.” Well, at least her logic made sense for once.

“Have you tested it?” Shuichi asked, causing her to stammer.

“Well, not exactly, but... Whatever! It needs a test run, and we’re here, so if it doesn’t work then just send Keebs back or pass information to him, alright?!” She pushed Kiibo towards the group, encouraging them to finally head towards the device.

 

With the group now six in total, they decided to head up in two groups; Shuichi let Harukawa, Chabashira, and Kaito go first while he and Kaede explained how the device worked to Kiibo. When it was their turn, he selected 85, which was still the highest checkpoint any of them had reached. He wondered if Ouma was still climbing, recalling his want of someone to climb with. Was it getting too dangerous for him? Shuichi felt a little bad, but he logically knew it was for the best that he didn’t try to climb without the others.

“Alright, everyone can hear me, right?” Iruma asked as they regrouped and prepared to head for the next floor. Kiibo nodded eagerly; it seemed the antenna-ahoge thing was working? “I knew it’d fucking work! ... Anyway, the barrier we didn’t reach last month is on floor 89; it’s open now, though, so it doesn’t really matter anymore. I’ll shout when I can sense the next checkpoint.”

 

They made their way to the next floor, and almost immediately Shuichi noticed a pair of Dancer Shadows down the hall. He summoned his gun, and waited for the others to prepare themselves as well.

“Is something wrong?” Kaede asked when Kaito and Kiibo weren’t following suit. Well, Kaito almost had; he had his shield, but from the frustrated look on his face, he was trying to call forth his sword as well.

“I can’t- Ugh, I can’t feel it. It’s  _ there, _ I know it is, but it feels- it feels  _ stuck.” _

“Don’t push it,” Harukawa said, “If it’s not coming, forcing it out will just drain your energy.”

Kaito sighed. “Fine, alright. Geez.” He gave up, scratching the back of his neck.

 

“Kiibo-kun, what about you?” Kaede turned to him.

His eyes lit up. “Oh. I was just going to observe today.”

The group fell silent at his announcement, before Harukawa again stepped in with, “No, you’re not. If you’re here, you’re fighting. If you don’t want to fight, we’ll send you back down to Iruma.”

Kiibo hesitated. “But, um, I don’t know how to fight Shadows? I just thought I could learn-”

“You’ll learn by doing. That’s the only way.” She pointed towards the Dancers. “Land the first hit.” While some part of Shuichi felt she was being a little harsh, he had to admit that she had a point. Tartarus was dangerous and wasn’t a place welcoming of hesitation. Being so high up already, Kiibo would have to overcome his fear faster than they had in order to keep himself safe. He felt bad for him.

 

“Don’t worry, Keebs, it’s not hard,” Iruma hummed in their minds, “It’s just like when you fought that bitch; just aim and fire. Show everyone what you’ve got!”

He seemed comforted by her support, the apprehension in his face relaxing as he straightened up. “Very well, allow me to handle this!” Kiibo confidently strode towards the Shadows. Without summoning his weapon.

Harukawa sighed and shook her head. “If he gets wiped, I won’t be surprised.”

He stopped once the Shadows noticed him, and raised his arm towards them dramatically. “Please, begone!” As they swayed towards him, that cannon formed on his arm again, and he shot off a powerful silver beam at one of them, taking out the heart-shaped bubble floating above the headless humanoid bodies. Without its mask, the Shadow collapsed into sludge.

“Haha, nice aim!” Iruma cheered. “See, told you he fucking had it! Now help him out; he’s great, but he can’t do this shit alone!” When they obeyed, Kiibo hurried behind them, allowing Chabashira and Harukawa to take the front line and finish off the other Shadow.

 

“Sorry, I have a bit of a recharge time,” he explained once the Shadow was gone. Shuichi could see why; the attack was pretty powerful for one hit.

“No worries; we all have different fighting styles,” Kaito comforted him, patting him on the shoulder. “You ever need someone to cover you, you just call for me, alright?” He held up his shield proudly. Shuichi looked down at his gun, wondering if his own weapon was good enough.

 

The group proceeded onwards and upwards, quickly reaching the floor that would’ve held the barrier and pushing past it. Their surroundings didn’t change, but Iruma informed them that she sensed stronger enemies than before, so they stayed on guard as they began exploring floor 90.

 

It was their first battle with a hoard of four Maya that Shuichi realized there was a problem. “I think we have too many people trying to fight at once.” He spoke up once they finished them off.

“What d’you mean?” Kaito asked, scratching at his goatee. “There’s still only four, now that I’ve fallen back.”

“But you  _ haven’t _ fallen back,” Shuichi pointed out, “You’re still in the space between the front line and the back. When I’m trying to aim, there’s a total of four people I have to make sure I don’t hit, opposed to two when it was just me, you, Chabashira-san, and Kaede-san.” Kaede was never in the way, keeping her distance from the fight unless something dire happened. “It wasn’t horrible when Harukawa-san joined, but now it just feels crowded. The hallways feel like they’re getting narrower, too.”

“What do you suggest we do, then?” Harukawa sighed. “It’s not like we’re going to kick someone out; we all need training.”

 

Shuichi hesitated. He brought it up on a frustrated whim, but his complaint didn’t have a solution in progress. “Oh, um, I don’t know. Maybe we could try rearranging our formation? Or have like... a designated person to pair with to take down Shadows so we’re not stepping on each others toes?” Okay, that sounded like a reasonable solution; crisis averted?

Chabashira seemed to like it, at least. “Oh, oh! I wanna work with Harukawa-san!”

“No,” she immediately denied, causing Chabashira to deflate and Shuichi to swallow nervously. “I can take them down more efficiently alone; you work with Kiibo.” She jerked her head towards him. “He’s new. He needs someone confident to work with, and you need to get over yourself and work with a male-identifying person without complaining about it.”

Being called out so harshly on her bias caused Chabashira to duck her head, ashamed. “... Okay.” Shuichi couldn’t imagine she was happy with it, but she moved to Kiibo’s side without a word in disagreement. There wasn’t even a nasty look shot in his direction. Progress?

 

“Well, I guess that leaves you and me, Shuichi! I’ll watch your back, you watch mine!” Kaito patted his back to emphasize his point.

The climb progressed smoothly after that, their new formation seeming to help prevent stepping on toes. Shuichi worriedly noted that Shadows were more often than not appearing in groups of three or four, the only ones roaming alone or in pairs being dangerous according to Iruma’s analysis.

On the floor 97, the floor before the next checkpoint, she suddenly demanded they stop. “There’s something weird here... A bunch of unfamiliar Shadows all by themselves. They feel really weak, but something’s off about them.”

Kaede nodded. “Let’s be careful, everyone.” They kept their eyes out for anything dangerous as they looked for the stairs up.

 

They made it down two empty hallways before they finally saw one of the Shadows. A Hand, golden and about half his size. It didn’t seem that special, but...

Harukawa stiffened. “A rare Shadow.” Without warning, she darted towards it, switching to a shotgun as she ran. The Hand appeared startled as she drew near, scrambling to get away. She managed to land a heavy shot on it, taking out one of its digits, but it avoided the rest of her attacks, fleeing from her. Since it was a dead end, it ran towards them.

“Get it!” Iruma yelled in their minds, and the group snapped out of their stupor. Kaito dropped down, using his shield to prevent the Shadow from crashing into them as Chabashira and Kiibo prepared to attack it. Their combined attack defeated it, and it collapsed into sludge that evaporated faster than most. Harukawa skidded to a halt in front of them, something close to frustration on her face before it smoothed back out into indifference.

 

“What was that?” Shuichi questioned.

She took a moment to answer, leaning over and picking something off the ground. “A rare Gold Shadow. They drop these.” She held up a coin about the size of a 500 yen one. She then pocketed it. “If you see them, defeat them; the coins sell for a good amount, and I’ll split the profit with whoever gets them.”

“Huh.” Kaito scratched his chin. “Well, Iruma said this floor was full of ‘em; should we split up and get ‘em?”

Shuichi could tell Harukawa almost nodded, but she paused, pulling out her timer. “No, it’s about time to go.” She tsked. “They can be slippery, and you could accidentally waste too much time chasing them around. Cornering them like we did just now is the best way to fight them.”

 

Almost disappointed, the group headed up to the next floor. The device was activated again, Shuichi noted, but he had the feeling that questioning Iruma would be pointless. Surprisingly, though, as they split into two groups again to take the device down, Kaito hung back with him. “Say, do you think the device is supposed to glow like that, even though when we were on the ground floor, it didn’t say 98 was accessible?”

“I don’t know,” he answered. He’d never seen one that wasn’t activated, and he wasn’t sure if he was ever going to at this rate.


End file.
